Purple
by Charll
Summary: A simple, normal transfer student from America... Actually, not really. Gunjo was a very interesting girl thrown into the world of Yosen High School. An unexpected romance between a sarcastic and sharp-tongued girl with an unmotivated and weird... wait how is romance going to bloom here? Murasakibara/OC
1. Ultramarine

_Hi guys, first fanfiction. Please play nice.  
__R&Rs are always appreciated.  
Have fun._

* * *

"Hi, my name is Gunjo. I'm transferring from America. I look forward to meeting you all."

It was a flawless introduction done in Japanese. My new classmates politely clapped for me. The teacher told me to sit in a seat near the back. I thanked the teacher and walked to my seat. As I was walking to the back, I noticed something peculiar. A boy sitting down who was almost as tall as I was standing. I did a double take. This boy made his chair seem like a kindergartener's chair. He sat sideways because his legs couldn't fit underneath the table. He had sleepy looking eyes and unusual purple hair that came to his chin. As I walked past, I tripped on his foot and caught myself by grabbing his desk. I pulled the desk backwards causing some candy to fall out.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. I bent down to pick up the candy that flew out of his desk. He turned his head to look at me. I placed the candy on his desk and gave a courtesy nod. He didn't respond.

How polite. I walked to my assigned desk and took a seat. As I looked up at the board, I caught him staring at me. We made eye contact and he slowly turned his head back to the board.

* * *

A bell rang and the class stood and bowed. School was over and girls swarmed my desk.

"Hi! Welcome to Yosen!"

"Wow, your hair is long and pretty!"

"How tall are you?"

I caught bits and pieces of questions and answered them as I could.

"I'm 173 centimeters."

"Whoa, you're tall."

"Your Japanese is good!"

I gave a slight smile, "Thanks."

"Your hair's a really pretty blue color."

"How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen."

"Why are you a first year then?"

"Yosen held me back a year because I can't read Japanese."

"I can teach you Japanese!"

"Me too!"

I smiled again, "Thanks."

"Want a tour around the school?"

"That would be nice."

* * *

"So, the teacher's office is here."

A bunch of girls surrounded me and offered commentary about the school.

"The food here is really good!"

I was paraded into the cafeteria and shown around.

"Want to see the gym?"

"Sure."

They ran to the gym, but none of them entered. They giggled and whispered to each other.

"Look, it's the basketball team."

"It's Himuro-kun!"

Squeals erupted from the girls. Tall as I am, I can't see past jumpy high school girls.

"Excuse me, could I have a peek?" I tried to gently nudge past them, but all of sudden, they made room for me and I stumbled forward. My shoes squeaked on the clean gym floor and I looked up. A bunch of guys were playing basketball, which was expected. I swept the court and I saw a familiar face. The purple-haired boy slumped against the court wall, eating some kind of food.

A girl grabbed my shoulder, "Look, there's Himuro-kun. The one with his hair in his face. He's in our class."

I looked. Yup, there was a tall Japanese boy playing ball. I was quite surprised with all the players on the court. I heard that most Japanese males were short, but none of these guys were short. I think I may have seen Himuro talking to the purple-haired boy in our class.

"Hm, I see. Who's the guy eating sweets?" I asked.

"That's Murasakibara-kun."

"He's kind of weird."

"Weird? How?"

"All he does in school is eat sweets and sometimes play basketball."

"Sometimes?"

"It's because he's really talented so he doesn't practice."

My expression soured. I hate people like that, "Ok, let's move on then."

The girls looked reluctant to move on from Himuro, but they did, hesitantly.

* * *

I hate PE class. I really dislike exercise. I am not athletic. Why couldn't Japan be like America and let me opt out of PE? I tried telling my homeroom teacher that I couldn't do PE. She laughed a little and handed me my PE uniform. Oof. Tough life. The girls were excited. It was a joint PE class with the second years.

"Himuro-kun's going to be watching!"

"I hope he notices me!"

Dang that guy's popular. I changed into a cotton T-shirt and pink shorts. The girls around me did the same.

"Gunjo-san, you don't look very well."

I looked at the girl talking to me, "It's just that I don't like exercising very much."

The girl giggled, "You'll be fine."

"That's what I hope."

The class walked together onto the track. A teacher waited for us on the track and told us to run laps. Oof. I hate running. The boys and girls all ran together. The boys took off immediately, seeming like they were racing each other. The girls jogged behind them. At first I was near the middle of the pack, then the back. Then, I was so behind that the boys were actually catching up to me. That's embarrassing. I ran off the track and asked the teacher if I could take a break. She raised an eyebrow at me, and said yes. I rested underneath a tree and caught my breath. I was so out of shape.

I watched as the girls jogged by. Some of them looked at me, then turned to their friends and giggled. Were they making fun of me? Then the boys ran by. Some of them looked at me, then turned to their friends and laughed. Are they girls? The whistle blew and everyone stopped running. The girls and boys mingled on the track. Giggling, laughing, doing high schooler stuff.

"Can I sit next to you?"

A voice caught me off guard for two reasons. One: it was in heavily accented English, but grammatically correct English nonetheless. Two: it was a guy's voice. I turned. Well, what do you know? It was Himuro.

"Sure," I scooted over and made room for him under the tree, "I'm surprised you're speaking English to me."

"I lived in America for a while. Don't take a lot of PE in America?" he responded in his accented English. He probably noticed me sitting out most of the running.

"Oof, no need to make fun of my unathletic self."

He seemed confused. I repeated what I said in Japanese. He smiled a bit, "I'm sorry. Your Japanese is very good. Where did you learn?"

"I came to Japan when I was younger and learned Japanese here."

"Nice. I'm Himuro Tatsuya."

"I'm Gunjo. Nice to meet you."

"Gunjo? You mean like the color?"

"Yeah, it's my favorite color, ultramarine. I chose it as my Japanese name."

"What's your real name then?"

"It's kind of long. Can you handle it?"

"I'll try," he shifted his sitting position toward me.

"It's Victoria."

"Victoria. What a pretty name."

"Thanks, you almost make me blush. I can see why all the girls like you here."

"Not really..."

"Well, at least all the girls showing me around were swooning over you."

He glanced away for a second, "Atsushi! Come here."

Oops, must've made him feel uncomfortable. I looked in Himuro's direction. A huge purple giant walked over to us. That guy's height astounds me every time.

"What is it, Muro-chin?" He drawled.

Once again, I was slightly shocked by the childish way he spoke.

"This is Victoria-san," then he turned his head my way, "Oops, is it ok if I call you that? By your English name?"

"Sure, anything you want," I replied.

"Victoria-san, this is Murasakibara Atsushi. Atsushi, this is Victoria-san, she just transferred in."

The purple giant looked at me for a second then squatted down. He still looked down on me from his position.

"Ah, she's in my class," he said, "She tripped over me on the first day. I though her name was… Aoi or something."

Oof, he remembered that, "Haha, nope. It's Gunjo, but my real name is Victoria. You can call me whatever you like."

Himuro opened his mouth to say something, but I saw some people gathering to my right. I got up, "Hold on. I want to see what's happening."

A boy was on the grass clutching his calf.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

He smiled painfully, "I just pulled a calf muscle."

"Oh, I can help with that," I sat down next to him, "Show me where."

The boy seemed confused, but he slowly let go of his leg and pointed to where he pulled his muscle. By now, a small crowd had gathered around us.

"This is going to hurt a little, but bear with it," I grabbed his calf.

He seemed kind of shocked, but let me touch his leg. I felt his leg and felt a knot. I pressed on it. The boy winced. I began slowly massaging his pulled muscle. I could tell he was bearing with the pain. Then, I couldn't feel the knot. I felt around the spot a little more, "You should be good now."

The boy moved his leg, "Wow, it worked. Thanks a lot."

He got up. The teacher told him to go to the infirmary just in case.

"That was impressive, Gunjo-kun," the coach told me, "You know how to do sports massages?"

I blinked up at her. She was a middle-aged woman with dark hair and eyes, "Actually, I mainly Swedish massages for relaxation, but it's sort of like sports massage."

"Victoria-san, that was surprising," Himuro said. He must've seen me during the commotion.

I smiled, "Hehe, it's just one of my hobbies."

"The basketball could use a manager like you," he said, "Sensei, what do you think?"

The teacher looked at me, "I'm the basketball coach by the way, and I would approve of you as our basketball manager."

"What would I do as a manager? I asked.

"Take care of the boys," she used her thumb to point at Himuro and Murasakibara in the background, "Get their water. Care for injuries."

"Can I sit in on a practice first and see if I would fit the position?"

"Sure," she said. She blew her whistle, "Time for PE again."

* * *

_Had fun?  
_


	2. Will you remember me?

_Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows. They're very encouraging. :3  
__Don't forget to R&R.  
Have fun._

* * *

First day as an observer, let's see how it goes. I entered the gym. The basketball team was already there, stretching.

"If you're going to be the manager, you're going to have to come earlier."

Oof. Harsh. I looked at the corner of the gym. The coach was there with a clipboard.

"I'm sorry," I responded.

"It's fine," she tapped her pencil on the clipboard, "Let me introduce the basketball team to you."

She blew her whistle, "Round up!"

The boys stopped and roughly lined up.

"Introduce yourselves," she commanded.

"Himuro Tatsuya," Himuro said.

"Okamura Kenichi," a very large guy said. He had a squarish face with thick eyebrows. He was very tall as well. Maybe I was completely wrong about Japanese men.

"Fukui Kensuke," a blond said. He had sharp eyes and was around my height. Not everyone's tall huh?

"Wei Liu," another tall guy said. I looked up. He was extremely tall as well and had matted hair.

There was no way I was going to remember all that. Well, that was the end of the line, so I decided to introduce myself, "I'm Gunjo. I'm a transfer student from America. Nice to meet you. I'm observing today to see if I want to be your manager."

"She's like you then, Himuro," the blond said. His name was Fukui, right?

"Yeah, sort of," Himuro responded.

"Anyways," the coach said, "Those are our regulars, save one."

She sighed, "Gunjo-kun, could you do me a favor? Find Murasakibara."

"Sure," I said.

As I was walking out of the gym, I could hear them say my name. Maybe they were talking about me.

I remembered that Murasakibara liked sweets, so I checked the vending machine on the first floor. Nope. The second floor. Nope. The third floor. Nope. The cafeteria. Nope. Where on earth could a giant like him even hide? Then, it hit me. Where do all slacker-like people skip out on basketball practice? The rooftop.

I went to the pair of stairs that I assumed led to the roof, but of course it was "off limits." I hopped over the chain sign and pushed open the door. The air outside was kind of warm and uncomfortable, but the slight breeze outside was nice. Now where was he? I circled around a little and he wasn't there. I was about to go back down until I saw a piece of chocolate fall down from the ledge above. Of course, he would be in the place that's the hardest to reach. I hopped for the ladder near the ledge, but I wasn't tall enough. I jumped again. My hand hit the railing this time, and scraped my hand. Oops. One more time. I jumped and grabbed hold of the first railing.

I pulled myself up and what do you know? A purple-haired giant basking in the sun with sweets surrounding him. Oh my bad, not all sweets, some chips too.

"Murasakibara, the coach is looking for you," I said.

He tilted his head up from position, "Who are you again?"

He was not going to make this easy for me was he?

"I'm Gunjo, from PE class remember?"

"Hm, sorry. I don't remember unimportant people," he turned his back to me.

"Look," I said, forcefully cheery, "you don't have to remember me. Just please go to practice. See? I added the 'please' in there."

He didn't respond. Fine. Two can play at that game. I grabbed a plastic bag near him full of sweets. He heard the rustling of plastic and looked at me. I unwrapped a chocolate and put it in my mouth. He stared at me. When I finished chewing, I made a run for it. I climbed down the ladder and jumped. Oof, bad idea. I felt the shock go through my ankles. I stood there for a second collecting myself before a huge shadow jumped down behind me. So, maybe there were a couple of bad ideas here. I dashed for the stairs. Down. Down. Down. Down. To the courtyard.

For a moment, I forgot how out of shape I was. Then, that fortunate moment was gone. My ankle pain hit me, and fatigue hit me. After all, I was running top speed away from a seven-foot giant.

Almost there. I burst through the gym doors quite loudly, but no one really paid attention to me.

"Gunjo-kun?" The coach asked.

Out of breath, I couldn't respond to her. I had stopped abruptly about two feet into the gym and a giant was bounding behind me. I conveniently forgot about that and rested my hands on my knees. Murasakibara stopped in the doorway.

"Eh?" He drawled, "Where did she—"

His shin hit my backside, and the force threw me forward. Since my hands were on my knees, I was too small to be seen from his height. He had actually_ tripped on me_. I sprawled on the floor, too tired to care. The problem is that I forgot that someone tripped on me. I felt Murasakibara's breath on my neck and I flipped myself over. He had fallen on his hands and knees. Good thing too, or else he would've crushed my poor out-of-shape body. His sleepy eyes now bored through mine. His eyes were purple, like his hair. His chest rose and fell evenly. He wasn't out of breath at all. That run was barely a warm-up for him. He took his plastic bag from me and stood up.

"Will you remember me now?" I breathlessly asked.

He looked at me, "Maybe."

He walked into a corner, sat, and ate from the plastic bag of candy.

I sat myself up, panting from the exercise I had.

"Are you ok?"

I looked up. Of course, Himuro the gentleman had come to my rescue. He extended a hand. I reached out my right hand, which I realized was a bit bloody. I quickly switched hands and used my left to grab onto Himuro's hand.

"Oi, is your hand ok?" The big guy with thick eyebrows asked. He must've noticed my hand.

The boys had stopped playing basketball and gathered around me. How sweet. They're slightly concerned about me. I sat down at a bench nearby. I held up a finger, signing for them to wait while I caught my breath.

"I'll… be fine."

"Looks like you had an adventure," the coach said. She looked at my condition, "Does this mean that you don't want to be our manager?"

This teacher must be crazy. I injured my hand and my ankle. I stole candy from a guy. I'm exhausted from running from a seven-foot giant. But surprisingly, I didn't hate it. That Murasakibara pissed me off a little, but no hard feelings right? Besides the running, I think I enjoyed it.

"Sure, why not," I breathed out.

* * *

"Before they play," the coach said, "They all have to stretch, make sure there's no muscle pulling nonsense."

I nodded. Since I had agreed to be their manager, the coach was teaching me how to run a practice. She said that in the near future she would be pretty busy, so I would have to supervise most of the practices.

"Then, they basically do what they're told. They know what they're supposed to do."

"Oh, that's pretty simple then," I said.

"One more thing," she started and paused. I guess that was my cue to look at her.

"Try your best _not _to get romantically involved with them," she finished.

I looked at her for a second. Really? She was going to get involved in my personal life? I thought about it for a moment. Then it made sense to me. She was basically asking me to not make things awkward for the basketball team.

"I can do that."

* * *

_Thanks for reading. :3_


	3. I can do that

_Once again, thanks for the review, follows, and favorites. They make me happy. :3_  
_R&R pls._

* * *

"Here," I tossed a box of Pocky to a giant sprawled on the floor, "Think of it as payment for when I ate your chocolate. And stole your bag of candy. You could also think of it as a reward for coming to practice, as you should be."

I had been the basketball team's manager for a couple of days now. And Murasakibara only showed up this once since our incident. He stared at me for a couple of seconds before averting his eyes to the box of Pocky I had thrown to him.

"Oh, thanks," he opened it and ate it.

I sat down on the bench beside him.

"What? So you were waiting for Atsushi just to give him sweets?" Someone ran up behind me. Blondish hair. It was Fukui. After a few days of supervising their practices, I had sort of gotten their names down. The rest of the players jogged over as well.

"Not really," I picked up my schoolbag and turned it upside down. Chips, sweets, sports drinks, water bottles, and a couple of pencils fell out.

"Hey, I've been looking for those," I picked up the pencils, "Anyways, the coach told me it was my job to take care of you guys. So, I bought food for all of you."

The guys sort of stared at each other, then sat down and grabbed some of the sports drinks and water bottles. It felt really awkward. I don't really know what it was, but none of them made eye contact with me.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing really." The guy with the thick eyebrows said. I think his name was Okamura, "It's just that…"

Okamura trailed off.

"Okamura, what is it?"

"Thou hast betrayed our expectations a bit," Wei Liu said.

I blinked and looked at the teammates surrounding him. Is no one batting an eyelash at his Japanese? Really? No one really reacted and looked at me for a response.

"Well, um, what were your expectations?" I prodded.

"What comes to mind, usually, with female managers of sports teams, is…" Okamura started.

"We were kind of expecting homemade food," Fukui finished.

"Oh, was that it?" I said, leaning back, "I can do that."

"Really?" Okamura looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"Yeah, sure," I said, "I didn't know you guys wanted that. Is that what managers are like?"

"Um, yeah," Fukui put bluntly.

"What other expectations did you guys have for me as a manager?" I asked.

"I don't really know," Himuro said, "We haven't had a manager before."

"I was just expecting homemade food," Fukui said.

Okamura nodded. Wei Liu stayed silent.

"Well, that's simple. For now you guys are just going to have to deal with the junk food I brought you…"

Then, an idea popped into my head, "Oh wait, are you guys busy this evening?"

Their heads turned my direction, "We could have dinner at my place."

"Is that ok, Victoria-san?" Himuro raised an eyebrow.

"Oh sure, I live alone on campus. I'm a transfer student so they gave me a nice place with a kitchen. It's supposed to be for two people, but I don't have a roommate so I think it's big enough for all of you," I remembered their very large statures, "I could make dumplings for… Actually, you guys can help me make dumplings because you probably eat a lot."

The guys seemed rather surprised, but not opposed to my plan.

"Think of it as team bonding," I said, "We should get to know each other more."

"I'm down for it," Fukui said.

"I like that," Okamura nodded.

"Seems fun," Himuro smiled.

Wei Liu gave me a look. A look which I assumed to be an "ok."

"What about you?" I shouted to the snacking giant in the corner, "You coming?"

Murasakibara gave me a look. What is it with everyone and giving me looks? Just say yes or something.

"Sure," he drawled, and ate another stick of Pocky.

"We'll go grocery shopping after practice then," I said.

* * *

"Which way is the closest grocery store?" I asked.

We had finished practice and they were packing up.

"Grocery store? If you don't know where the grocery store is, what have you been eating?" Okamura asked, tossing his towel into his bag.

"Premade bentos," I answered, "Much better than the fast food in America if you ask me."

"That's not very healthy, Victoria-san," Himuro stated.

"Eh, I'm fine," I said.

We began walking to the grocery in mainly silence. It was terribly awkward. I invited them over for dinner to make sure we didn't have these awkward moments anymore. Well, that plan backfired on me.

"I actually know nothing about you guys. How about we start by saying our ages? I'm 17." I said.

"You're 17? Then why are you a first year?" Okamura asked.

"I can't read Japanese. That's why they held me back a year," I answered.

"Oh, I see. I'm 18," Okamura said.

"I'm 18," Fukui said.

"17," Wei Liu said.

"16," Murasakibara said.

"I'm 17," Himuro said.

"So the youngest here is Murasakibara then?" I asked.

"Whew, you're fresh out of middle school. Does that mean we get to bully him then?" I joked.

"If you try to bully me, I might accidently crush you," Murasakibara said nonchalantly.

I stared at him. Is anyone hearing this? Did he just threaten me?

"Well, Murasakibara is quite a jokester isn't he," I said forcefully cheery, "Since technically I am your senpai. You should watch your mouth around me."

The awkwardness in the air gradually changed into tension. I did not like the way that the purple giant was treating me.

"Well, our cute, little manager should learn her place."

The guys in front of me had stopped walking. They stared at me and Murasakibara while we silently feuded with intense stares. I glared daggers at him, which probably wasn't very effective because I had to look up to meet his eyes. Meanwhile, his sleepy purple eyes bored down at me and made me feel small. I am not small and I am not going to be disrespected like this. Himuro looked like he was going to say something, but I spoke first.

"Could you say that again?" I forced a smile, "I couldn't really hear what you said through your childish voice."

Murasakibara bent down to my eye level and I stared at him back defiantly as I could.

He reached out his hand. Was he reaching for my face? My neck? His hand rested on my hair and he roughly ruffled it. His huge hand covered the entirety of the top of my head.

"I'm just kidding," he drawled.

Really? Did he just threaten me and then brush it off with a "I'm kidding"?

I slapped his hand off my head, "You know what guys? I'm sorry about this. I'm not in the mood for dumplings right now. Maybe another day? I'm just going to go home now."

I briskly walked away, not looking back at them.

Dang it, it hasn't even been a week and I've had a falling out with a member of the team. I'm so stupid. But it wasn't my fault! He started it! Even though, I'm the one who said I could bully him. Wait, but he's the one taking things too seriously! Even though, I took him pretty seriously, too. Dang it, it's my fault isn't it. I hung my head in dejection. Now I have to throw away my pride and apologize don't I…

I looked up. Wait a second. I looked around. I was in somewhat of a residential neighborhood, but not one I recognized. How far had I walked? I looked behind me. Not a single giant in sight. I was so lost in thought I didn't realized where I was walking. I am such an idiot.

By now, the sun had set and the streetlights flickered. It was getting cold out too. This isn't good. I stopped walking. Rather, I started pacing.

I hated being alone, let alone being alone and lost. Then, I heard something. It sounded like rustling.

Nope. Nope. Nopenopenope. Not doing this. Not doing this.

I was not at all curious as to what was making that sound and I did not want to find out. I whirled around. Was anyone there? Anyone? As of right now, I wouldn't mind jumping into Murasakibara's arms and apologizing to him if he was here.

Then, I heard footsteps, which was actually quite terrifying considering I was completely and utterly incapable of tolerating anything spooky. But, footsteps mean human approaching. Hopefully, human. I looked made out a shadow from the dim streetlights.

Honestly, I didn't care who it was right now. I ran. Closer and closer. Finally, I could make out an average sized guy with blondish hair.

"Fukui Kensuke!" I shouted.

The guy looked up. Yup, it was Fukui. Without thinking too much, I tackled him. He stumbled backwards. I ran behind him, pushed him forward a bit, and hid. I buried my face into his back and grabbed his shoulders. I hunched over a bit because he was around the same height I was.

Silence. I couldn't hear the noises anymore, just Fukui's breathing and mine.

"Eh?" I couldn't keep in my surprise. I had peeked over Fukui's shoulder.

It was a dog. It gave me the most condescending and cocky look before it trotted away.

I let go of Fukui's shoulders. He turned around to look at me. I blinked at him.

He burst into laughter.


	4. What does this say?

_I've been updating really fast because I'm on break and I have nothing to do._  
_Teehee._  
_So once school starts for me, updates will be hard to come by._  
_Just giving you fair warning._  
_Reviews, favorites, and follows have been very encouraging. :3_

* * *

"You should've seen her!" Fukui laughed, "She was scared out of her mind because of a dog!"

I could feel my face heating up. I turned away, "You exaggerate. I wasn't _that _scared."

He was practically rolling around on the floor, "She got lost like a couple of kilometers from school!"

"I… have a bad sense of direction."

Himuro broke a smile, "So, you're a normal girl after all."

I looked at him, "What do you mean? I am a normal girl."

"You talk to us like it's totally natural," Okamura said.

"Of course I do. How else would I speak to you?" I stated.

"Well, first off, not many girls talk to this gorilla here," Fukui pointed a thumb at Okamura.

"Eh? Why me specifically?" Okamura dejectedly asked.

"And few girls even interact with this gorilla," Wei Liu added.

"Wait, why me?" Okamura gloomily said.

"And not many people talk to him either," Himuro gestured toward a certain purple person slumped in the corner snacking on sweets.

I gave a slight smile, closed my eyes, and slumped down against the wall. I had started on the wrong foot with these people. They seem nice. I'm sure I'll grow to like them. I opened my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said.

The team turned a looked at me.

Himuro gave me a gentle look, "It's ok."

"It was mainly Atsushi's fault anyways," Fukui stated matter-of-factly.

I looked again in the direction of Murasakibara. I grabbed a pack of Pocky and tossed it in his general direction.

"Think of it as an apology," I said, without looking at him.

"Sure thing," he drawled.

I think that means I made up with him right? I looked at the other guys for confirmation, but they already went back to practice.

* * *

"Hey guys," I said running into the gym.

The team looked up at me.

"You're late," Fukui said bluntly.

"I know. But look what I got you guys," I pulled a large pitcher out of my bag.

"May I ask what that is?" Wei Liu said inspecting the orange liquid in the pitcher.

"It's orange juice. Freshly squeezed orange juice. I used tons of oranges to juice this thing," I picked up some cups from out of my bag, "Look, I even got personalized cups for you."

Maybe personal was a bit much. They were basically reusable plastic cups with their names written on it in English.

"Thanks, Victoria-san" Himuro said, pouring himself a cup.

Others echoed their thanks and drank.

"Murasakibara, don't be a bum. There's enough for you too," I waved the purple giant over.

He bounded over, sat himself down, and poured a cup. While all of them chugged down their drinks, I thought of something.

"You know," I said, the team looked up at me, "None of you have ever called me by my name, except for Himuro."

"Thou said that thy name was Gunjo, yet Himuro calls you 'Victoria-san,'" Wei Liu said.

Really? Is no one going to comment on his Japanese? I don't even know the language that well and I know that's not how normal people speak.

"That's right," Okamura said.

"Looks like the gorilla is thinking today," Fukui said between gulps.

I gave a smile, "Gunjo is the name I gave myself for Japanese purposes, but my real name is Victoria."

"Then what should we call you?" Okamura said, recovering from Fukui's jab.

I was going to respond, then I heard an unexpected voice.

"Then, Ria-chin," Murasakibara said.

Everyone looked at him.

"Sure why not," I said.

"Then, can I call you Ria…-chan?" Okamura said hesitantly.

"Of course."

"Could I call you Ria then?" Fukui asked.

"Sure. Does that mean I can start calling you by your first names then?" I asked.

All the guys said yes in some manner.

"Then, what would I call Wei Liu then? Just Wei Liu?"

"That's what I call him," Okamura said.

"What else would you call him?" Fukui said.

"So then it would be Kenichi, Kensuke, Wei Liu, Tatsuya, and…" I trailed off.

"Attchi," I said.

The guys looked at me funny.

"Atsuchi. Asuchti. Astichi," I stuttered.

The guys broke out in laughter, save Murasakibara, who continued drinking his juice.

"Sorry, I can't really pronounce your name," I apologized.

"It's Atsushi," Tatsuya corrected me.

"Atsushi," I finally said.

"You did it, Ria-chin," Atsushi replied. He reached out his hand and patted me roughly on the head.

I eased his hand off my head, "Yes I did, Atsushi."

* * *

"Atsushi! Victoria-san!" Tatsuya was calling from outside our classroom, "Let's eat together."

"Sure!" I yelled back. I looked in my bag for my lunch voucher. Huh, it wasn't its usual spot.

"What's wrong?" Atsushi was looking into my desk right beside me.

I jerked backwards, "Don't do that. You scared the wits out of me. I just can't find my voucher."

"Want some?" Atsushi offered some of his chocolate to me.

I broke off a piece and ate it, "Thanks, but I still need to find my—"

"Is this what you were looking for?" An unfamiliar voice said.

I looked up. One of my classmates held a voucher in her hand. I took it from her and looked at it, "It should be mine. Thanks. Where did you find it?"

She nervously looked at the ground, "Oh, it was on the ground. I just picked it up."

"Well, thanks… I'm sorry, but I don't remember your name."

I looked her over again, but I couldn't remember her name. She had dark brown hair and round glasses.

"Um… it's Satou Hina."

"So, Satou, I'm—"

"I know who you are, Gunjo-san."

"Oh ok, see you then. Thanks again," I waved and left.

"Was something wrong?" Tatsuya asked, as we walked to the cafeteria.

"It's nothing," I said, "But it's just… where I put my vouchers doesn't usually fall out…"

"You're not making sense," Atsushi drawled.

"Maybe I'm not."

* * *

I thought incidents like with Satou Hina would be a one-time thing. Boy was I wrong.

One day, a girl who I am almost sure I had never seen approached me. Her giggling friends pushed her toward me in the hall during break time. The girl looked down at the floor and held out a letter. Wait, did she want me to take it? Without saying anything, I gave her a confused look and pointed at the letter and then myself. She nodded. I hesitantly took the letter from her hands. She ran away with her giggling friends.

Once she was out of sight, I looked at the words written on the envelope she'd given me. Well, her handwriting was very pretty, I'll give her that, but I couldn't read Japanese. I flipped the envelope over. It was sealed with a cute ice cream sticker. That was cute.

I sat down at my desk. Atsushi was there chomping on sweets as usual.

"Hey Atsushi," I said, still looking at the envelope.

"Hm?" He looked at me.

"Could you read this for me?" I asked.

I ripped open the envelope and I looked it over quickly. Nope, can't read it. I handed him the letter inside.

He began reading in his childish voice, "Ever since I first saw you, I felt something in my heart flutter."

Wait what?

He continued, "Since then, I have been sneaking glances at you in the hallway. Something was just different about you."

Of course something's different about me. I'm a transfer student.

"You treat everyone with such gentleness and kindness."

He paused.

"Are you sure this letter's for you?" He said, giving me a sideways glance.

Was that an insult?

"Well, a girl gave it to me. So it must be mine," I responded.

He started again, "Even that time I almost fell down the stairs, you caught me and held my hand for a second."

Wait, I don't remember holding anyone's hand.

"I can still feel your strong grip on my hand."

I guess I'll take that as a compliment.

"My head is filled with thoughts of you. I just wanted to say…"

Atsushi stopped again, "Ria-chin?"

"Hm?" I said.

He asked me something, but I couldn't really make out what he said through his drawl. My classmates stopped what they were doing. Just stopped. They didn't turn around to look at me. Just furtive glances over their shoulder. Why didn't they want to look me in the eye? I had always had really bad hearing, so unfortunately I asked him to say it again.

"Do you bat for the other team?" He said a little too loudly.

The question was engraved into everyone's head now. Did he just question which team I hit for?

"No," I said firmly. I could just feel the tension dissipate and my classmates continued their work, "Why do you ask?"

"This is a _love letter_," he said. He said love letter in English.

I blinked. I grabbed the envelope and showed him the words on it, "What does this say?"

"Himuro Tatsuya."

Oh.


	5. You're a girl

_Hi guys. Enjoy the new chapter!_  
_Please R&R. Thanks._

* * *

When practice started, I handed Tatsuya the letter.

"Victoria-san, what's this?" He asked me.

"It's a love letter," I stated.

He seemed at a loss for words for a second and he looked at the ground. Was he blushing?

"Victoria-san, I don't know how to say this. I don't think I can—"

I burst out laughing. Did he think I wrote the love letter? I closed my eyes and smiled, "Tatsuya, I didn't write that. A girl gave it to me today. I thought that she was giving the letter to me, so I thought it was mine. So, I accidently read it. Sorry."

Tatsuya laughed too, "You thought it was yours? But I thought you couldn't read Japanese?"

"Atsushi read it for me."

"Oh, I see," Tatsuya put the letter in his bag.

"Tatsuya, why don't you have a girlfriend?" I asked.

He seemed mildly surprised, "Why do you say that?"

"If you had a girlfriend, I don't think so many girls would be fawning over you."

He gave a slight smile, "Oh, I see. It's just that basketball is my priority right now. To have a girlfriend and not give her my full attention would be rude."

An impeccable, gentlemanly reason. As expected of Himuro Tatsuya.

Just before he went off to practice, I just said whatever was on my mind, "Tatsuya."

He stopped.

"Does anyone on the basketball team have a girlfriend?"

He was surprised, "No, why?"

"I'm just curious."

"Oh, ok…" Tatsuya went onto the court.

* * *

It had become a habit now. I ate lunch with the basketball team every day. It was just me and the guys. Just me. And the guys. Just one girl with five guys. Wasn't that weird? I kind of wanted a friend who I could talk to about girly stuff, like maybe we guys liked, paint our nails together, or go shopping. Sure, I felt pretty close to my team and I think they liked me too. They were guys. There's a certain limit to being good guy friends, I think.

"Why don't any of you have girlfriends?" I said.

The guys stopped eating. Kenichi choked on his food.

"Why so sudden?" Kensuke asked.

"It's just that I eat with you guys every day," I said.

"Dost thou have a problem with that?" Wei Liu asked.

"No, I love you guys," I countered, "But if one of you had a girlfriend and brought her to eat lunch with us every day, I could be buds with her."

"Why does you having a girl friend require us having girlfriends?" Kensuke asked.

"Why don't you just make some friends," Atsushi drawled.

"Because I'm not good with talking to girls," I said.

"How are you not good at talking to girls?" Tatsuya asked, swallowing his food.

"Because girls are so judgmental," I replied.

There was silence for a second.

"You're a girl," Kensuke said.

"I didn't say I wasn't judgmental," I responded.

Silence again.

"I know how girls think because I am a girl. That's why it's hard to talk to them," I stated.

"Just talk to them how you would talk to… yourself," Kenichi said.

Wait what?

"That didn't make any sense, gorilla," Kensuke said.

"Victoria-san, not all girls are judgmental. A lot of girls are very nice," Tatsuya said.

Of course, the gentlemen would defend all the ladies that he's come in contact with.

"That's because you're… Tatsuya," I countered.

Tatsuya gave me a confused look.

"You guys know what I mean right?" I turned to the other guys.

But they showed me the exact same face. Atsushi looked like he couldn't care less.

"Like… girls act different in front of the guy they like. And a lot of girls like Tatsuya."

They seemed to understand now.

"Very few girls are the type who are all goody-goody. So if you ever find yourself one of those girls," I said, pointing my half-eaten sandwich at all of them, "You should keep her."

I took another bite of my sandwich.

"Art thou giving us dating tips?" Wei Liu asked.

"Well, I guess I am. But the point is friends that are girls are hard to make. I feel like guy friends are so much easier to make," I said.

"Since apparently, most girls are witches in disguise, what about guys? We're all 'goody-goody'?" Kensuke asked sarcastically.

"I'm not saying all guys are good. Heavens no. It's just that I feel guys are easier to read," I said.

Looks mingled with confusion and hurt were aimed at me.

"Whoops," I said.

Did I hurt them?

"We're easy to read?" Kenichi asked curiously.

"Actually, just gorillas are easy to read," Kensuke said lazily.

Kenichi seemed slightly dejected from Kensuke's comment.

"Well first, that was my fault," I apologized, "I… did not really mean that."

"Sure you did," Atsushi said.

I shot Atsushi a look. He wasn't making things better.

I put my hand on my brow, "It's different."

"Different how?" Tatsuya prodded.

"Look, it's not that you guys are easy to read. It's that… you guys are more straightforward," I finally got out.

"You basically said the same thing. Just nicer," Kensuke said.

"I'm sorry, ok? That was really rude and mean of me. I'll stop. I'll stop," I said, surrendering. I slumped down and ate my sandwich.

"No, no, Victoria-san," Tatsuya said, "I want to hear more about your opinion on guys."

"Ok," I continued, "Now that I think of it, I was wrong to say guys in general. I guess I meant specifically you guys. I like how you guys are straight-up and honest to me. Most girls I have hung out with aren't like that. I appreciate your honesty."

The awkward situation that I had brought upon myself seemed to lessen a little bit.

"I was also wrong to generalize about girls as well," I sighed, "Not all of them are evil, in fact I bet a majority of them are pretty nice. Maybe I'm just surrounding myself with the wrong crowd."

They kind of just looked at me and then looked back down.

"I'm sorry for making this awkward."

"It's ok," Tatsuya replied rather awkwardly.

"Just take it as 'I really enjoy your company,'" I said.

* * *

It was happening again. A girl pushed forward by her giggling friends. Instead of giving me a letter and running off, she spoke to me.

"Himuro-kun is your friend, right?" She asked timidly.

"Hm? Yeah," I said. I think I had a pretty good idea about what was going to happen.

"Could you… um… give this to him?" She held out a letter and looked at her feet.

It was a light blue letter, very cute stationery. There was Japanese written on the envelope, which I assumed said "Himuro Tatsuya."

"Actually," I said, "You're the second girl to give me a letter to Tatsuya."

She looked at me in surprise.

"Sorry, but I'm not going to give anymore love letters to Tatsuya."

Her eyes widened.

"It's sort of created a misunderstanding between me and him. Plus, I think Tatsuya would appreciate it more if you handed it to him in person."

"Oh… is that so…" The girl seemed contemplative of that idea.

"I'm sorry," I said again.

"It's… fine…" She walked off with her friends.

Her friends whispered and looked over their shoulders at me. I felt kind of bad.

"Gunjo-san," a voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I turned around. Oh! It's that girl who found my voucher for me.

"Oh, Satou, hi," I said.

"Can I ask you something? I've been meaning to ask you this for a really long time," she fidgeted with her skirt.

"Um, sure."

"Can I be your friend?"

Are you serious? No one asks that nowadays.

"That's a weird question to ask, Satou. You don't really ask someone to be friends. You sort of just make it happen."

"So… no?" Her eyes looked like they were watering behind her glasses.

"No. I mean yes," I stuttered quickly, "I mean yes, you can be my friend."

She smiled and her eyes glinted from behind her glasses.

* * *

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	6. Isn't that bad?

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* * *

"What do you guys know about Satou Hina?" I asked.

"Who's she?" Kenichi asked.

"Why so suddenly?" Tatsuya asked.

"I don't like her," I said bluntly.

"Why'd you bring her up then?" Kensuke asked lazily.

"Because she asked to be my friend, which is totally weird by the way," I said.

"Didst thou say yes?" Wei Liu asked.

"Yeah, of course," I responded.

"If you don't like her, why would you say yes?" Kenichi asked again.

"If she's what I think she is, I can't let her suspect that I'm onto her," I replied.

The team fell silent for a second. That's right, guys. Didn't think I was that smart did you?

"Atsushi," I called.

He looked up.

"What do you know about Satou Hina?" I asked again.

"Who?" He said, before stuffing a lollipop into his mouth.

I face palmed. Of course, Atsushi doesn't know anything. That was stupid of me.

"Does anyone know anything about her?" I said, dragging my hand down my face.

"All I know is that she's a quiet girl," Tatsuya said, "I don't think anyone's really talked to her that much."

I thought for a second. If she's the type that doesn't talk, and then suddenly asks to be my friend, I can definitely assume she's up to no good. It was probably the cliché quiet girl who pretends to be your friend but actually backstabs you to get the guy. Which guy would she be aiming for though? I looked at the team. Kenichi stared at me. Not him. Sorry. I looked at Wei Liu. Probably not. Definitely not Atsushi. Was it Kensuke? Or Tatsuya? Well, that was easy.

"Tatsuya, you should be careful around her," I finally said.

The team looked at me for a second.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Kenichi asked.

"If I'm ever absurdly late to practice or promise to meet up with you but don't, start looking for me," I said again.

"Where are you coming up with this?" Kensuke asked.

"Don't worry, just… trust me on this," I said, frustrated.

How do guys know so little about these things?

"Oh yeah," I said pulling a pitcher out of my bag, "I made you guys lemonade today."

* * *

It was quite cold outside. It was the beginning of October by now. I had been at Yosen High for a month now without much fanfare. Actually, I take that back. There was some fanfare.

I loved winter. There was no winter in Florida. So seeing your breath in the cold air was a new thing for me. I loved it. But the problem with living in Florida is that I had no winter clothing. I had one scarf in my arsenal of winter clothing. Luckily, I lived basically on campus so there wasn't much of a commute for me. The mornings and after basketball practice were the only times I was outside in the cold. So I walked out the door in my winter uniform, uniform sweater, and scarf.

The gym didn't have AC or a heater, so it was always too hot, or too cold. Today, it was too cold.

"Aren't you guys cold?" I asked.

The team was playing in basketball shorts and rolled up long sleeves. Meanwhile, I was rocking back and forth on the bench in all my winter regalia.

"That's because you're not exercising, Victoria-san," Tatsuya said, wiping sweat off his brow.

"Ahhh, I don't want to exercise," I complained.

"Ria, you can't complain that you're cold if you're not moving," Kensuke said coming over.

"Then how's this?" I stood up and began dribbling an invisible basketball. My shoes squeaked against the floor as I dodged unseen enemies. I faked left and jumped backwards to make a shot.

"I'm basically a pro," I said flipping my hair.

The team broke out in laughter.

"Thou jest. Thou could not last a second against us," Wei Liu responded.

"Sure, I could," I replied flippantly, "How about me and Tatsuya versus you three?"

Wait, was Atsushi not here? I just noticed past my shivering on the bench. I shed my sweater and scarf in preparation.

Kenichi gave a hearty laugh, "Sure, sounds good."

"Eh? Why am I on a team with the gorilla?" Kensuke asked.

Visible signs of hurt showed on Kenichi's face. I laughed and slapped Kenichi on the arm, "Come on, let's play."

There was no way I could beat giants like Wei Liu and Kenichi. Kensuke… I don't know. He's still taller than me.

"What do you do?" I asked, "You throw the ball around like this before starting right?"

I bounced the ball to Kenichi and he bounced it back. I grabbed the ball and made a dribble for the hoop, Wei Liu and Kensuke immediately came to block me. I stopped and asked, "Are we playing full court or half court?"

"Full court, of course," Kensuke replied.

"Oh thanks," I ducked past them and dribbled past.

"That was low," Wei Liu said, referring to the trick I pulled.

"I have to win somehow," I said shooting for the hoop.

The ball made a beautiful arc in the air before completely missing the hoop by a couple of feet. The team broke out in laughter.

"What was that?" Kensuke doubled over from laughter.

"That was my secret move to get the rebound," I said, "Tatsuya, you got this."

Tatsuya had snuck up behind the three guys and shot an impeccable arc into the basket.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Kenichi shouted.

"Sure it is!" I shouted back.

The rest of the "game" consisted of me distracting the other team while Tatsuya made shots into the hoop. My tricks consisted of pretending to trip and fall, which worked at first because the guys on the Yosen basketball team were pretty much perfect gentlemen who tried to catch me, but then they figured it out. I also found out that blocking Kenichi was a little easier because he was more careful around me. Kensuke and Wei Liu were harder to deal with because they didn't seem as flustered with my physical contact around them.

Since my stamina was terrible, it didn't take long before I was lying down on the floor in exhaustion. I gasped for air as I stared at the ceiling. The team surrounded me, breathing normally. It was barely a warm up. For me, it was my exercise for the year.

"I love you guys so much," I breathed out.

They looked at me a little surprised.

"It's only been a month, but I've grown to like you guys so much," I repeated.

Kenichi blushed. Tatsuya smiled. Wei Liu and Kensuke looked like they may have had a smile on their lips.

"Do you guys like me?" I asked.

"Of course we do!" Kenichi blurted out.

Kensuke smacked him, "Speak for yourself, gorilla."

I smiled, "Come on, Kensuke. You know you like me."

"Oh sure, just remind me to do that next time," Kensuke smiled.

I looked at Wei Liu, who was a little unresponsive during our little talk. Suddenly, I wrapped my arms around his waist because that was all I could reach, "I like you too, Wei Liu."

He showed an uncharacteristic display of embarrassment with slight pink tinting his cheeks, "What art thou doing?"

I laughed, "Don't be shy."

He tried pushing me off as gently as he could, but I hung on tight, laughing.

Then, the gym doors flung open, letting gust of cold air into the gym. I stopped tugging around with Wei Liu to look at the door. It was the coach. She stared at me, clinging onto Wei Liu. I slowly released my arms around him. That was weird. Why was the coach here?

She checked up on practices about once a week. She would come in to make sure no one was fooling around and that everything was on track. But she had already checked up on us this week. Why would she come again?

"Oh, hi coach," I said.

She shot me a disappointed look and swept the gym with her eyes.

"Gunjo-kun, where is Mursakibara?" She asked.

"Not here at the moment," I responded.

She seemed to find my response less than satisfactory, "Please go find him."

I rushed out into the cold without a word.

* * *

I still couldn't really understand why the coach seemed that angry. It's not like she didn't catch me fooling around before. She had walked in on me and the team eating and laughing together before, but she understood that we were just taking a break. Why was she so angry this time? Was she angry because I was hugging Wei Liu? The coach didn't seem to be one who would jump to conclusions like that though.

Anyways, I brought my mind back to the subject of finding Atsushi. He had been pretty good about attending practices lately though. He wouldn't practice. But he would come and eat candy on the sidelines. I already knew where he would be this time. He always slacked off on the rooftop. I hopped over the "off limits" sign and opened the door. Cold air rushed at me and made me realize I forgot my sweater and scarf. But all I have to do is to grab Atsushi and go.

I climbed up the ladder onto the higher part of the rooftop. And lo and behold Atsushi in all his lazy glory chomping on some unknown snack.

"Atsushi," I said.

He turned to look at me, "Oh, Ria-chin."

"Yeah, hi. Um, the coach wants to you to go to the gym."

"I don't want to," he drawled.

He was being difficult again.

"Look, I didn't want to come into the cold to find you either. Come down and I'll give you some Pocky, ok?"

By now, I knew how to bend Atsushi to my will. All I had to do was offer him candy.

He looked at me with sleepy purple eyes, "You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

I hopped down first, careful about my ankle, remembering the last time I jumped down too hastily, I hurt myself. Atsushi followed me afterwards. I pulled on the door. Nothing happened. I don't remember the door being this hard to open. I pulled again. What? I pulled backwards with my body weight this time. Nothing.

"Huh? You can't open the door?" Atsushi drawled.

"I can," I pulled the door with all my might and fell backwards, lightly bumping into Atsushi.

"Maybe I can't," I admitted.

Atsushi pulled on the door. Nothing. So, it wasn't just me then.

"It's… locked?" I asked.

"I guess so," Atsushi headed back to his sleeping spot.

"Wait, isn't that bad?"

"I guess so."

"Shouldn't we be worried?"

"I guess so."

"Aren't you worried?"

"Not really?"

"Why?"

"Someone will get here eventually."

Wow, was he carefree.

"Do you have your phone?" I asked.

"It's out of battery," he said, climbing up the ladder.

"Oi, help me here. I just want to get out of the rooftop."

"It's fine. Someone will find us."

Atsushi had disappeared into his normal spot. Leaving me by the door, alone, cold, and stuck. I was stuck on a dreary October evening on the rooftop with an apathetic, purple giant. Help me.

* * *

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	7. Are you cold?

_Trying my best to update fast, guys.  
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* * *

I just kind of stood there. Unable to comprehend what had just happened to me. I was stuck on the rooftop in relatively cold weather, with no cell phone. I didn't have my cell phone because I had run out of the gym without it. I had no sweater and scarf because I had taken them off when I was playing basketball. Of course, there was a person who was in basically the same situation as me, but didn't seem to care as much as me. Then again, he was probably warmer, too.

I looked through the fence that surrounded the rooftop to look down to see if anyone was there. By this time, most of the students had left. After all, basketball practice went till pretty late. No one would probably pass through the vicinity of here, except for the basketball team. They would come out in an hour or so, but until then, I was stuck.

In an act of desperation, I tried shouting to see if anyone by chance was there.

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!"

No one.

"Hello?! Anyone?!"

No answer. I resigned myself to climbing up the ladder to where Atsushi was. He was still chomping on sweets. He lied down on his back, staring at the darkening sky. I sat beside him and opened a pack of strawberry chocolates. He sat up at the sound of something being opened. He glanced at me and then lied back down.

We sat in silence for a good five minutes. Atsushi just looking at the sky and I stared straight ahead at the setting sun.

"Hey Atsushi," I finally said.

"Hm?" He said without getting up.

"Is the door usually locked?"

"No, why?"

"Why aren't you more worried?"

"It'll work out."

"Oh."

I stuffed more chocolate into my mouth.

"Hand me those chips there," he said pointing into a plastic bag.

I gave it to him, and we both munched in silence. Usually, silence for me is awkward, but with Atsushi, silence didn't really bother me. I felt like we both didn't have a desire for conversation and we both knew that. So the silence was actually quite nice, save for the crunching sounds of potato chips.

Minutes passed and in record time, he finished his bag of potato chips. Meanwhile, I stuck one chocolate in my mouth at a time, letting it slowly melt away on my tongue before placing another in my mouth. That way, I savored the flavor and didn't eat too much. Atsushi held out his hand to me.

"Hm?" What did he want?

"Choco," he prodded me with his hand.

I poured out some of the chocolate into his palm, and he retracted his arm.

"Ria-chin, are you cold?"

The question surprised me. I thought he was going to ask me to pass the bag of sweets or something. It had been getting chillier and I felt it too. Despite my tries to ignore it, my body began to shiver.

"Yeah, a little," I responded.

A little was an understatement.

Atsushi sat up and looked at me. I didn't think my shivering was that apparent. He began unzipping his jacket.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He handed me his jacket without a word.

I couldn't comprehend what was happening.

I pointed at the jacket, "For me?"

He nodded.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded again.

I uttered a lame "thank you" and took the jacket. I stood up to put it on. His jacket was huge_._ The sleeves extended past my hands and the body of the jacket went to my mid-thigh. It was warm, comfortably so. I zipped it up. I didn't really mean to, but I breathed in the scent of the jacket when I zipped it up. The thought that came into my head was embarrassing. It smelled nice. I shook my head and told myself to snap out of it, but I couldn't help putting the sleeve to my face. I softly inhaled it. It _did _smell nice. Did all guys smell like this?

It was a weird smell, I guess. You know how everyone has a unique smell? They probably just smell like their house or something. But some people just smell better than others regardless of hygiene. Atsushi just smelled really good.

"Did you put on cologne?" I asked.

"No, why?" He had lied back down.

"You smell nice."

Wait, did I just say that? Oh well.

"You do too."

What? Did I hear that right? I turned to look at Atsushi.

"Wait really?" I asked.

Atsushi didn't respond.

It wasn't a question worth pursuing, so I let it be. By now, it felt like it had been a while, so I decided to check the fence. I looked over. It was getting dark now so it was hard to see if anyone was there.

"Hello?!" I tried shouting again, "Is anyone there?"

No response. I sighed. Maybe Atsushi was right. Someone would find me eventually. The team would come looking for me right? I climbed back up the ladder and sat next to Atsushi. He breathing had become lighter and his chest rose and fell evenly. It seemed like he was asleep by now. I lied down next to him a couple feet away. The cement felt cool against my legs. I pulled my legs close to me into a fetal position. I turned away from Atsushi. I wonder when people will start noticing that we're gone. Did the team know that the rooftop was Atsushi's slacking off place? I sighed again.

Behind me, I could hear Atsushi roll over. I could almost feel his breath on my back. I decided that he as too close for comfort, so I was going to move farther away. That was when he threw an arm over my waist. What the heck was he doing?

"Uh, Atsushi," I said.

His arm lay limp on my waist. I decided to ease his arm off of me slowly. His arm slowly dropped onto the cement behind me as I slowly inched my way away from him. Then, he suddenly hooked both his arms around my waist and dragged me closer.

Now I no longer cared about waking him, "Atsushi! Atsushi! Let go! What are you doing?"

I smacked his arms that were now laced around my waist. He paid me no heed and proceeded to lock my back against his chest. I must admit, he was quite warm and comfy, but I didn't know him that well. And it was getting awkward really fast.

"Atsushi! You're awake aren't you?" I said, lightly elbowing him in his stomach.

He was straight up snoring now.

"Oi!" I said, as he placed his chin on top of my head, "Stop it!"

Sure he smelled good and was now snuggling me, an in an ideal world it would be ok, but it wasn't an ideal world. I attempted to pry his arms off me. How could someone sleeping hold onto something so tightly? I squirmed around and used my legs to push against him, but for some reason none of it worked. Was I really that weak? Or was he just too big?

All that struggling tired me out. I breathed heavily as I resigned myself to being mushed up against Atsushi. Sure it was comfortable, but I didn't want anyone finding me like this. It would cause too many misunderstandings.

And that was when I heard the door squeak open. My heart immediately jumped out of my chest and off the rooftop. Or at least that's what it felt like. It was half happiness that someone had found me and half despair that someone would find me like this.

"Hello? Ria-chan? Murasakibara?" A voice called.

That deep voice had to be Kenichi's. I could see a light flash below me. He was probably using his phone as a light since it was dark out now.

"Kenichi? I'm up here!" I shouted back.

I may or may not have regretted that decision.

"Oh, that's where you were, we were starting to—" Kenichi started.

He had shone his phone on me and Atsushi.

"Hi there," I said.

Kenichi didn't move. I blinked at him. Atsushi snored again.

"I'm sorry," Kenichi quickly descended the ladder.

I panicked, "Kenichi Okamura! Don't leave me here like this!"

* * *

"Oh, is that what happened?" Kenichi laughed.

"Yes, and please don't tell anyone else," I said, burying my face in my hands.

Kenichi, Atsushi, and I were walking back to the gym in relative darkness. I just explained what had happened to Kenichi, and he seemed to take it well. But I wasn't so sure about the others, or the coach.

We entered the gym and the team and the coach were there waiting. Kenichi had given them a call to tell them that we were ok.

"What were you guys doing?" Kensuke asked as soon as we walked in.

"I got locked in on the rooftop," I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.

"Why art thou wearing Murasakibara's jacket?" Wei Liu asked.

"It's because I was cold and Atsushi offered me his jacket," I responded.

"Why are you blushing, Victoria-san?" Tatsuya asked.

What? Was I? Now that he mentioned it I could feel my cheeks becoming warmer.

"I'm not blushing, my cheeks are pink from the cold," I said.

"What—" Kensuke started.

"Could you guys stop? It's not twenty questions we're playing here. I got locked on the rooftop with Atsushi and I got cold so I'm wearing his jacket," I responded.

"Gunjo-kun," the coach said.

I was getting annoyed, but I couldn't just blow up.

"Yes?" I said.

"The rooftop door is never locked."

* * *

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	8. How could I say no?

_Sorry for the late update.  
I have a little bit of major writer's block.  
Just writing whatever comes to mind.  
Feel free to suggest ideas in reviews.  
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Enjoy~_

* * *

"What do you mean the rooftop door isn't locked?" I asked.

I couldn't wrap my mind around it. The coach was giving me a look. A look of suspicion. A look of disappointment.

"Me and Atsushi tried the door, and it was locked. Is there at least a key to the door?" I asked, "So that someone _could _lock it from the inside of the school."

The coach pondered the thought, "Yes, there is. But that key isn't lent out."

"So, there is a key then?" I prodded.

"What are you trying to say, Gunjo-kun?" She cast me her look again, except curiousity crossed her face.

"From the looks of your questions, you think something is going on between me and Atsushi. Both he and I can tell you, nothing is going on and the door was most definitely locked," I crossed my arms.

The coach sighed, "We'll talk about this on Monday. For now, let's leave it."

"Sure," I agreed.

I made sure to grab my sweater and scarf this time.

"Bye guys," I said, without looking at them.

I walked out the gym toward my dorm. Yosen had a foreign student program, so it had housing on campus. Wei Liu actually lived pretty close to me in the boys' dorm. Usually, I walked with him from practice back to the dorm, but today I just rushed out.

I was angry. Why was the coach so accusatory towards me? She wasn't like that. Why was the door locked? And why was it unlocked later? One thought jumped into my head. But that was rather judgmental of me. So, I pushed it back.

"Victoria-san."

A hand fell on my shoulder. I didn't need to turn around to see who it was.

"Tatsuya," I said, turning around.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He paused, "Really?"

I laughed, "Of course you can read women well. No, not everything's ok."

"Do you… want to talk about it?"

His eyes got me. It was dark, save for the few lamp posts that dimly light the school after hours. His eyes were brown and soft. It was a combination of puppy eyes and piercing eyes. His eyes got me, but in the subtlest way possible. It was a weird sensation in my chest. Not a pang. Not a twist. But an off-beating feeling.

It took me a while to respond, looking at his soft, piercing eyes, "How could I say no to those eyes?"

* * *

"Does he always do that?" I looked into my fridge.

Somehow, Tatsuya had gotten the team together and was at my place. It wasn't that late, but it was pretty dark outside, so it felt late.

"Do what?" Kenichi asked.

"Those eyes," I shouted back to the group sitting at my tiny Japanese table in the middle of the room.

My dorm consisted of one room. Right where you walked in my tiny kitchen was to the left. My kitchen sink was tiny and I had a tiny stove to it. I had a tiny microwave. I had a twin bed in a corner of my room, along with a desk and a lamp. Then there was this short table with pillows around it for sitting. I had a tiny bathroom near my tiny closet. Everything was tiny. At least compared to the real estate in Florida.

I continued looking into my fridge. I had water and citrus. That wasn't going to work.

"Sorry guys, I don't really have anything to drink except water. I wasn't expecting anyone today," I sat down on the floor next to everyone.

"It's fine," Tatsuya said.

"Wait, whose eyes?" Kensuke asked again.

"Tatsuya's eyes. When he wants something he looks at you," I said.

"Of course he's going to look at you. What else would he do?" Kensuke replied.

Sassy Kensuke.

"No, no, he _looks_ at you," I said, "Like this."

I put my face closer to Kensuke and tried my best to imitate Tatsuya's puppy eyes. It was hard. Soft, pleading eyes that bore into your soul are not easy to reproduce.

Kensuke fell backwards laughing, "What are you doing?"

"I'm copying Tatsuya!" I defended the funny looks I was probably giving him.

I grabbed my stuffed animal off my bed and half buried my face in it. It was a round blue pig that was perfect for smothering. No one was really talking all that much and I was fine with that. Just hanging with the team in my comfy dorm room. That was fine with me.

"Do you—" Tatsuya started.

I cut him off, "We need to be brutally honest here."

Tatsuya looked at me, as did the rest of the team with expectant eyes.

"Do you think anything is going on between me and Atsushi?" I asked.

Atsushi was completely oblivious to everything as he absentmindedly looked around my room.

Silence again.

"Yes," Kensuke said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because the rooftop is never locked, and you and Murasakibara were alone for a while before Okamura found you," Kensuke explained.

"Ok, nothing happened between me and Atsushi. Atsushi was asleep for most of the time we were up there. _And _the rooftop door was most definitely locked. Even Atsushi tried it, didn't you?" I said.

"Mm," Atsushi drawled, "I was surprised too. It was locked."

"Are you convinced?" I asked.

"Well, we didn't really have a problem with that," Kensuke replied casually.

"Huh?" What was going on?

"Thou seemed a bit shaken when thou left," Wei Liu said.

"So you sent Tatsuya after me to see if I was ok?" I asked.

The group nodded.

I couldn't take it. I let go of the blue pig I was hugging and squealed, enveloping Kensuke and Kenichi in the biggest hug I could. Closing my eyes with joy, I pressed their cheeks to mine, "You guys were worried about me?"

"Uh… yeah," Kenichi said, uncomfortable in my embrace. I could feel his face heat up against mine.

I let both of them go, "All of you guys are so cute."

"I guessing that means you're fine then," Kensuke said.

Was that pink crawling up Kensuke's face?

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I was worried," I sat back down between Kensuke and Kenichi.

"Worried? About what?" Tatsuya prodded.

"You guys said that the rooftop is never locked. Then why was it locked?" I asked.

Tatsuya thought about it for a second, "I mean, there is a key, but the teachers don't lend it out."

By now, I knew that there was a key. So the door could be locked. But no one ever does. But the door was definitely locked when Atsushi and I were up there. Someone obviously was up to something.

"Ria-chan?" Kenichi asked.

I snapped out of my thoughts, "Sorry, I zoned out there."

"Yes, we noticed," Kensuke said.

I laid my head on Kensuke's shoulder and closed my eyes for a second. When I opened them, the team was staring at me with a mildly surprised look.

"What are you doing?" Kensuke asked.

"I'm resting," I replied.

"Yes, but why my shoulder?" He asked again.

"Because Kenichi is too tall for me to do this," I replied.

Kensuke responded with an uncharacteristic, "Oh."

Silence pervaded the room for a couple of more seconds. I would've wanted nothing better than to just rest my head on someone's shoulder and hang with the team. It was perfect, but it was also getting late.

I lifted my head, "I'm fine, guys. Really. You don't need to worry about me. I'll tell you if something's wrong."

"If you say so…" Tatsuya said, getting up.

The rest of the team followed him out the door, and I watched them go.

* * *

We went to practice as normal. The coach checked up on us. I didn't do any funny business. The coach didn't seem mad at me anymore. That was nice. Everything proceeded smoothly as if nothing had ever happened, and that was the way I liked it.

Today, I brought fruit. I read online that blueberries and kiwis were apparently good for after-workout food. The team snacked on the fruit while I sat and watched.

"Are you going to eat some?" Atsushi drawled, stuffing his face with blueberries.

"I don't like fruit," I responded.

The team stopped eating.

"What?" Kenichi asked.

"I don't like fruit all that much," I said again.

"How can you _not_ like fruit?" Kensuke asked.

"Simple, I just don't really like it. I mean I like strawberries, and occasionally apples," I responded.

"How art thou tall if thou does not eat fruit?" Wei Liu asked

"I can be tall without eating fruit," I said.

"What he means is that you need to eat healthier," Tatsuya said.

I opened my mouth to say something before I saw Atsushi move from the corner of my eye. I turned to look at him and he stuffed half a kiwi in my mouth. With the skin on it and everything, just shoved it my mouth. I gingerly took it out of my mouth with my thumb and forefinger, processing what had just happened.

"Did you just… put a kiwi in my mouth?" I furrowed my brows at Atsushi.

"You need to eat fruit," he responded, eating more blueberries.

"You're just giving me the fruit you don't want," I said, "I see you eating only blueberries."

I grabbed a kiwi and stuffed it in his mouth, "_You_ need some kiwi."

He took the kiwi out of his mouth and stared at it.

"Oi, are you sure you should be doing that to the birthday boy?" Kenichi said casually.

I blinked. Wait, what?

"It's Atsushi's birthday?" I asked.

"Okamura, that's the day after tomorrow," Tatsuya corrected.

"Way to go gorilla," Kensuke added.

I stood up, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I need to go, like, birthday shopping and get a cake and—"

"You can just get a cake," Atsushi drawled.

"Of course, you would want a cake," I said.

* * *

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	9. Part of the team

_Would you look at that?  
A fast update.  
Please review~  
_

* * *

"Gunjo-san."

That was weird. It was a familiar yet not so familiar voice. I had heard it before, but I hadn't heard it in a long time.

I turned around, "Oh, hi Satou."

It was the girl from a while ago who had asked me to be her friend. We talked occasionally between classes for notes and other small things like that, but never more than that. Today, her dark brown hair was in two braids and she wore her round glasses as usual.

"Would you like to go shopping today?" She fiddled with her skirt.

Huh? Shopping today? I was a bit at a loss. I was already suspicious of Satou's intentions and I didn't want to let her know I was onto her. Saying no to her shopping trip would let her know that I was onto her. Saying yes would put me at risk for another rooftop incident. Maybe I would try and shake her with an excuse.

"Eh? Today? I was going to go pick out a cake with the team today. I don't think I can do today," I said casually.

"When are you guys going?" She asked.

"We said that we were going to go to the shopping plaza at 5:30 together."

"Then we could go together and shop before they get there," she gave me a dazzling smile.

She was pretty insistent about going shopping with me.

"Uh, ok… Let me just… give my team a call…" I said, going to the window.

I called Tatsuya, because he seemed like he would be the most responsible one to tell the group.

"Tatsuya? It's Victoria," I said.

"Oh, Victoria, hi. What's up?" He said in English.

"So, my friend wants me to go shopping with her, so can we just meet up at the plaza at 5:30?" I responded in English.

Tatsuya didn't respond for a second, "Sure, I'll tell the others."

"Thanks... Bye," I said, hanging up.

I turned to Satou, "Sure, let's go."

* * *

"So why all of a sudden shopping?" I asked.

The train ride to the shopping plaza was intensely awkward. Neither of us talked. I was never a conversationalist and I'm guessing neither was Satou.

"I realized that even though I wanted to be your friend, I wasn't treating you like one," she responded.

"Hm," I said.

The train coasted to a stop, and we got out. We spent a majority of our time just engaging in small talk.

"Let's go in here," I said pointing to a shop.

Maybe if we actually started shopping. Silence wouldn't be that awkward. We entered the shop together. I actually wanted to shop some because I needed warmer clothing and I wanted an extra scarf. Boy, Japan had some interesting clothes. There was a hoodie with gloves attached to the drawstring of the hood.

"Satou, what color should I get this in?" I asked.

I mean if she was shopping with me, might as well ask her advice.

She looked at it for a second, "You should get the blue one, it goes well with you hair color."

"Hm, you think so?" I picked up the blue hoodie.

We looked around the store in silence again.

"Has anything interesting happened to you lately?" She asked.

What was she getting at here?

"Not really," I answered, not looking at her.

"Oh really? Are you enjoying Japan so far?"

"Yeah, everything's nice."

"How's the basketball team?"

"It's good, yeah."

What was going on here? Why was she drilling me with questions? Sure, she asked her questions very casually, but I couldn't help but feel she was getting at something.

"So are you in any clubs?" I asked her, trying to turn the tide.

"No, but tell me about the basketball team," she replied, looking at some pants.

I didn't want to give too much away, "They're nice. All of them are very nice to me."

"What do you do as the manager?"

Did I even tell her I was the manager? It wasn't that hard to tell with me hanging out with five huge guys all the time, but really?

"I mainly supervise their practices, look out for injuries, and feed them basically."

"Has anything ever happened during practices?"

"Not really."

"Anyone get hurt?"

"Not that I know of."

"Do you put together training regimen for them?"

"No, I don't know that much about basketball. The coach does that for them."

"Oh, so it's like the same, huh?"

I snapped my head up from the scarves I was looking at, "What's the same?"

"The basketball team."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like it's the same even with you as their manager," Satou said, glasses gleaming.

"What are you trying to say?"

"It's like they don't really need you, huh?"

I didn't look at her. She didn't look at me. We both looked down at articles of clothing. I clutched a mint green scarf. The tension around us was now palpable. The people around us who were looking at clothing had dispersed, uncomfortable with the murderous aura exuded around us. Now all my doubts were gone. This was it. She's trying to say I'm unneeded on the basketball team. Why though? She was waging a psychological warfare on me. Two could play at that game.

I deliberately sucked in a breath, "I think I might get this scarf. After all, it gets cold on the rooftop when the door gets locked."

* * *

"Ria-chan!" A voice came from behind me.

It was the team. Kenichi waved at me. It was sort of funny seeing them in casual clothing. I was still in my uniform. The team entered the store.

"You're been in this small store the entire time?" Kensuke asked me.

"Yeah," I replied, "I can't decide what color to get."

I held up the hoodie with the gloves, "What do you guys think?"

"Whatever is fine isn't it?" Kensuke retorted.

"I think the blue one would look good on you," Tatsuya said.

"Hm, blue?" I picked up the blue one again.

"This one," Atsushi drawled. He pushed a white hoodie at me.

"Oh, good eye, Atsushi. This one's nice," I held up the white one.

"It looks like cream," he stated.

"Of course you would compare it to cream. I'll get this one then."

I grabbed the white hoodie and the mint scarf from before and went to the cashier. The cashier was pretty efficient unlike the ones in America. So, I ran back.

"Where's the bakery, guys?" I asked.

"Over there," Atsushi said.

Atsushi lead the pack over to where the bakery was. The guys just talked about whatever sports was on last night or something.

"Hey guys," I said, interrupting their guy talk.

"Yes?" Tatsuya said.

"Do you guys… need me?"

The question just sort of hung in the air. It came out of my mouth unbidden. It's not that I was insecure. In fact, I'm probably one of the most over confident people I know. Small things like that didn't bother at me. What people thought of me didn't matter, but what bothered me was that I was bothered by Satou's comment.

"_It's like they don't really need you, huh?"_

Why did it bother me? Even if they didn't need me, too bad, because I liked them and I was going to stay with them. Was that it? Was it because I liked them too much? I was afraid of them not needing me? Not wanting me?

Still, no one answered my questions. Everyone had stopped walking and kind of stared at me. It was a ridiculous question. Stupid really. What were they going to say "yes"?

"Sure," Atsushi responded in his childish voice, "Why not?"

I furrowed my brows at him. That was not a satisfactory answer.

"That's a silly question, Ria," Wei Liu said.

I gave a weird laugh, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm sorry."

"Of course we need you. You're part of the team," Tatsuya said matter-of-factly.

My eyes widened. _Part of the team_. Really? I was? They considered me like that? I couldn't hold back anymore when a wide grin broke across my face. My eyes closed with happiness when I thought about it. _Part of the team_. I read it over and over again in my head until I felt a huge hand on my head. I looked up.

"You should smile like that more often. You look cute," Atsushi had placed his hand on my head and patted it.

This time, I didn't shrug his hand away.

* * *

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	10. Happiness overload

_BAM. Super fast updates._  
_No more writer's block for now._  
_I love reviews because I love it when people tell me their thoughts on my writing :3_  
_Even if it's just "I liked it," it makes me happy!_  
_Enjoy~_

* * *

There are many things I love about Japan, but I think one that tops the list is food. Then the one that tops the food list is confectionery. I don't like American cakes, save for ice cream cake, because they are way too sweet and too heavy. First couple of bites are fine, but then the frosting and the cream take you down. But Japanese cakes are a whole new world. Everything is light and fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness. Don't get me started on the presentation of the cakes. Simply gorgeous. Beautiful.

We walked into the bakery. The scent of delectably prepared sweets and cakes assailed my nose. I already had that stupid grin from when Tatsuya told me that I was part of the team. Now my cheeks were hurting from smiling too much. Cakes, pudding, flan, macarons, sweet bread. Ah, it was too much. I closed my eyes and covered my heated cheeks with my hands.

"Oi, Ria-chan, are you ok?" Kenichi asked.

"Did I ever tell you guys how much I love sweets?" I said through my fingers.

"As much as Murasakibara does?" Kensuke said, pointing at Atsushi.

Atsushi already had his face plastered against the glass display of cakes.

"Maybe even more," I replied, joining Atsushi at the display.

I couldn't read Japanese, but I could tell apart some of the cakes.

"What's that one?" I asked, pointing at a cake with chocolate shaving and white cream.

"Black forest," Atsushi said.

"And that one?" I pressed my nose against, a white cake with pink and green decorations.

"Matcha chiffon."

I started jabbing my finger in the direction of different cakes.

"Mont Blanc. Yokan. Mille feuille."

"Uh, excuse me?" A voice shocked me out of my cake stupor.

It was an employee. I looked at him. He was rather cute in his bakery uniform, hat and apron and all. I felt a hand pull my shoulder. I looked back. It was Tatsuya pulling me and Atsushi back by the shoulders.

"You're too close to the cake display," Tatsuya said. He apologized to the employee.

"Ria, art thou feeling alright?" Wei Liu asked.

The team looked at me, and I stared back.

"Your face is really red," Kensuke said.

I reached both my hands against my face. Shivers went down my back from my impossibly warm cheeks coming into contact with my frozen hands.

"My face just gets red when I get really happy," I said.

"What? So it's like happiness overload then?" Kenichi commented.

"I guess so," I responded.

"It's not a fever?" Tatsuya asked.

"No, I'm fine," I protested.

"Fukui, check her temperature," Tatsuya said.

"Oi, why is it me?" Kensuke asked.

"Because thou art… the closest to Ria's height," Wei Liu said.

"What does Kensuke being my height have to do with—" I was cut off and startled.

Kensuke placed his forehead on mine.* My eyes went wide with surprise. What was he doing? We made eye contact for a good five whole seconds. I pushed his face away.

"W-what are you doing?" I stuttered.

"Her forehead is warm, but her hands are ice cold," Kensuke said.

"Let me see," Wei Liu took my right hand, "Ah, it really is cold."

Kenichi took my left hand, "Oh, it's really cold."

Tatsuya took my hand from Wei Liu, "Oh, it's cold."

I jerked my hands back to my chest, "Yes, yes. We've established that my hands are cold. Can I look at the cakes now?"

I went back to Atsushi, "Have you figured out which cake to get?"

"This one," he drawled, pointing to a rather simple looking cake with cream and strawberries on it.

"Sure," I said.

I turned to the employee, "Hi, could we get this one?"

The employee nodded and went to work boxing our cake. I took out my wallet.

"Oi, what are you doing?" Kensuke asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm paying for the cake," I said.

"Victoria-san, we can't just let you pay for the cake," Tatsuya joined in.

"Who said I'm paying?" I said, fishing out a couple of bills in my wallet.

The team stared at me blankly.

"This is part of club activities, so I'm using part of the club budget," I said, handing the bills to the employee.

"Isn't that… not allowed?" Kenichi asked.

"Sure, it is," I said collecting the change, "This is a club activity. Therefore, I am allowed to use club funding."

No one really said anything.

"Um, excuse me?" The employee said again just as we were leaving.

I turned to look at him, "Yes?"

"Here," he held out a paper coffee cup.

"I didn't order a drink," I said.

"It's, um, on the house," he said.

I blinked at him, "Uh, sure. Thanks."

"I hope… your hands get warmer," he said, blushing and looking down.

I smiled at him, "Thanks."

* * *

"Oi," Kensuke said.

I looked at him.

"That guy was flirting with you," he said.

We had gotten off the train, and I started sipping the contents of the coffee cup. One of the things I don't like about Japan is that they're strict about the food and drink on public transportation. It was hot chocolate. Perfect for cold weather like this.

"Oh really?" I said nonchalantly, sipping my coco.

Tatsuya carried the cake, so I held the coco with both my hands, feeling the warmth seep into my fingertips.

"Does it not… affect you in any way?" Kenichi tentatively said.

"Affect me? It makes me happy," I said between sips.

"Happy? Why?" Atsushi drawled.

"It makes me happy because he either thinks I'm pretty or likes some aspect of me. It's a compliment, and I got free hot coco," I responded.

"So you like it when guys flirt with you?" Kenichi asked.

I froze with my cup halfway to my mouth. That was an awkward question.

"Wow… you guys… don't know much about girls, huh?" I said.

Kenichi broke into a blush.

I laughed and gave Kenichi a sideways squeeze, "It's ok. That's what makes you guys so cute. But yeah girls like it when guys flirt with them. As long as it's respectful flirting."

Then I explained to them what disrespectful flirting was. The Yosen team was so adorable. Honestly. I couldn't get enough of them. We had decided that we were going to hold Atsushi's birthday party at Wei Liu's dorm because apparently his dorm was bigger than mine. It was more convenient for everyone to meet somewhere around the school so Wei Liu's place was the best.

I was very surprised when I entered Wei Liu's dorm. It was significantly larger than mine, and cleaner. He had a relatively large kitchen with a larger desk and living area. And of course, a larger bed.

"Wow, this is unfair. How come student athletes get bigger rooms than people on academic scholarship?" I complained.

I didn't receive an answer as Tatsuya and Atsushi were preparing the cake and the other guys were sitting around Wei Liu's TV.

"Oi," I said standing in front of the TV, "What are you doing?"

"We're going to watch sports," Wei Liu said matter-of-factly.

"Don't be boring. Let's play a game!" I said.

The guys begrudgingly turned off the TV.

"What game do you want to play?" Kensuke asked.

I was opening my mouth to speak before I heard Tatsuya scold Atsushi.

"Atsushi, you can eat that later not now!"

"But I want it now…"

I laughed, "Let's eat cake then play, ok?"

Tatsuya brought the cake with plates. I started singing "Happy Birthday," but apparently Japanese people don't sing the birthday song. So I awkwardly stopped and looked down at the floor. The team laughed at me.

"You can sing Victoria-san," Tatsuya smiled.

"I'm not going to sing by myself," I stated.

So that was that. Atsushi cut a slice for himself. Just for himself. Guess it was a free for all. Tatsuya, being the gentleman he was, cute slice for all of us. It was an interesting cake.

"Atsushi, what type of cake is this?" I asked, inspecting the cake.

"Mille crepe," he said between mouthfuls.

It was a cake made by stacking very thin crepes together with strawberries and cream in the middle. I took a bite. My mouth was immediately transferred to heaven. I closed my eyes and savored it. I could feel tears coming to my eyes. It was that good.

"Uh, Ria-chan, are you ok?" Kenichi asked.

"Are you crying?" Kensuke asked.

"I'm not crying," I said, as I wiped away a tear.

"Is it that good?" Wei Liu asked.

I nodded as I took another bite. Smooth creamy goodness filled my mouth.

Wei Liu forked over a strawberry onto my plate. I looked at him.

"Thou likest strawberries right?" He said.

I nodded and ate the strawberry Wei Liu gave me. I was the type who ate my favorite things on the plate first.

It was pure joy. Just hanging with the team, eating cake, relaxing. I could feel my face heat up again. This was truly happiness overload.

* * *

*Note: People in Asian counties actually put their foreheads against each other to check temperature because using your hand isn't ideal. Sometimes your hands are colder or warmer, but foreheads are usually the same temperatures no matter what.

to_ KneelingAngel_: Don't worry, I got your idea. I'll incorporate it somewhere in the near future!


	11. Does short hair suit me?

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__They're quite encouraging!  
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* * *

"You know, even though you guys practice a lot, when's your first game?" I asked.

Practice continued as usual. Today, the coach was sitting in on the practice to check up on them.

"First game?" Kenichi looked confused, "The Interhigh is over."

"What's the Interhigh?" I asked.

"I don't know why you're our manager if you don't know what the Interhigh is," Kensuke retorted.

Ouch, that hurt.

"Oi, that hurts, Kensuke," I said.

"Interhigh is a competition to decide the best high school basketball team in Japan," Tatsuya explained.

"Whoa, how'd you guys do?" I asked.

"Third place," Atsushi drawled.

My eyes widened, "Wow, that's amazing isn't it! I thought you guys were just a random team up north. Guess you guys are pretty good, huh?"

"Ria-chan, that hurts," Kenichi looked sad.

"I'm kidding," I smiled.

The team went back to practicing while I swaddled myself with my sweater and my scarf.

"Hey coach," I said.

"Hm?" She answered, not looking at me.

"Atsushi is a starter right?"

"Yes."

"But he never practices."

"Yes."

"I've never seen him play. Why is he a starter?" I stared at the purple giant in the corner eating chips.

"He's part of the Generation of Miracles, that's why," she said.

"Generation of Miracles?"

The coach finally looked at me, "I guess I can't blame you because you're a transfer student. The Generation of Miracles is a group of boys who are basketball prodigies basketball."

"And Atsushi is one of them?" I asked.

"Yes, there are supposedly six of them."

"Supposedly?"

"Apparently there's a phantom sixth man that no one really knows about."

"Hm," I said, "So when is their next game?"

"The next major games coming up belong to the Winter Cup during the beginning of November. It's a pretty big deal."

I heard commotion coming from the court.

"Please excuse me," I said to the coach, rushing over to court.

A boy had fallen down during practice. He wasn't one of the starters so I didn't know his name. All the team members seemed to know my name, but I didn't get down to memorizing all of the non-starters' names. That was cruel of me I guess.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Pulled a muscle," the injured boy said, writhing on the floor.

"Someone help me get him over to the benches," I said.

One of his friends slung his arm over his shoulder and helped him over. The injured boy sat on the bench.

"Is it your calf?" I asked, sitting near his feet.

He nodded and pointed to his left leg.

"This will hurt a little, ok?"

I gingerly felt his calf before finding the pulled muscle. I slowly began to massage out the muscle. It wasn't anything major, so I think I got the knot out.

"I think your muscle's fine now. Do you feel better?" I asked.

The boy stood up and tested out his leg, "Yeah, I feel much better now! Thanks."

"You should probably rest a little bit," I smiled at him, "You're welcome."

* * *

The next few weeks crawled by slowly. The team didn't talk to me much because they seemed to be practicing harder for the Winter Cup, which was less than a month away. Atsushi, as normal, showed up a few times only to eat snacks on the sidelines.

Then, something surprising happened. I received something in my shoe locker. A letter. I quickly looked at the front of the letter. It was definitely my name on it this time. Even though, I couldn't read Japanese, I could at least write my name in kanji. I opened the letter immediately.

I was surprised once again. The inside was written in English. An embarrassing thought popped up in my head. I quickly brushed the thought away. I read it. It was a very simple letter written in beautiful handwriting. At first, I thought it was a prank by a girl because the handwriting looked pretty nice. But then I remembered that all Japanese people had pretty good English penmanship.

The letter just told me that I was pretty and elegant and that the writer liked me. It told me to meet him at the gym storage area. The gym storage area? That wasn't very romantic? Maybe it's a Japanese thing to do?

I waited till after school and went to the gym storage area. I was walking on clouds. It was my first love letter. Even though I probably didn't know this guy and was probably going to turn him down, it still made my heart beat fast.

Ironically, the gym storage area was far from the gym. Who came up with the blueprints for this thing anyways? I entered the storage shed. No one was there. There was a crate of volleyballs, basketballs, and soccer balls along with some scattered poles around the walls.

"Hello?" I said into the shed. I took a few steps forward.

I heard the door squeak slowly behind me. I turned around just in time to catch a terror stricken girl closing the door. I started walking toward the girl. Then four other girls walked out from wherever they were hiding and surrounded me. I could tell that they weren't here to confess their love for me.

"I didn't realize I had so many fans," I said in a monotone.

Something was about to happen. Something not good. I started memorizing their faces and details. There was a total of five girls. The terror stricken girl was in front of me. She was around my height. Long brown hair with freckles dotting her face. To her right stood a girl who I assumed was the ring leader. She was short with bleached blonde hair. Next her stood a tall girl with short black hair. I noticed she stood slightly slumped.

Before I could finish looking at their faces, the ringleader spoke.

"Very funny, Gunjo," she said, glaring at me.

"I'm assuming you gave me the lovely English love letter in my locker. Can I help you?" I flashed them a grin.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," the blonde girl crossed her arms, "Let me be straight with you. Stay away from Himuro-kun."

"Well, being straight with me would usually not require me meeting you guys in a shady place after school hours, but I'll accept it."

The girl didn't seem impressed.

"If you like Himuro-kun, why don't you talk to him directly instead of me? I'm not his messenger," I said haughtily.

The blonde nodded to the tall girl with short hair. The tall girl and another nondescript girl walked towards me. They weren't any taller than I was, so I don't think I was that intimidated by them. Still, I didn't like where things were headed, so I made a dash for the door behind the ringleader. My run seemed to surprise them, but the tall girl was right on my tail. I made it to the door. I had my hand on the handle, but before I could swing the door open the tall girl grabbed me by the shoulder and flung me backwards. She looked stronger than she appeared. The force threw me to the ground. I landed quite hard on my bottom.

The girls surrounded me in a tighter circle this time. The ringleader looked down on me.

"All I'm asking is that you stay away from Himuro-kun. That's not too much to ask, is it?" She said.

I brushed myself off and stood up. I looked down at the ringleader. I smiled and cocked an eyebrow at them, "You're kidding me right? You're threatening me because I interact with Tatsuya? Because I did what you couldn't do? What you were _afraid _to do? Don't make me laugh. You guys are welcome to talk to Tatsuya. Don't drag me into your petty jealousy wars."

The ringleader burned with anger. Then, she regained her composure, "Do it."

The tall girl and her partner held my arms behind my back. I struggled to break free, but a girl on each arm was too much for me to handle. The ringleader approached me and stared at me. I stared back. She punched me in the stomach. She was a small person, so her punch shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. But I have a low pain tolerance, so it hurt, a lot. She knocked the wind out of me. I kneed her stomach. She stumbled backwards. Obviously, my blow hurt more. That was a bad decision for me.

The tall girl let go of my arm and another girl took her place. She punched me in the stomach. It hurt. A lot. Especially since it was already hurting from the ringleader's punch. But the tall girl's punch hurt even more. There was too much pain. My knees buckled from underneath me. The girls let go of my arms. Someone kicked my side. Another kick. And another. I was in too much pain to move. Everything hurt.

By the time I could sit up again, I found my back against the shed's wall. I squinted at the person in front of me. The ringleader. She held something in her hand. Scissors? Was she going to cut my hair? She knelt down and reached for my hair.

My hair was something I was quite proud of. I had struggled to grow it out. I wasn't just going to let her cut it. I weakly grabbed her wrist. Another kick landed on my side. I let go of her wrist. She yanked my hair, pulling my head towards her.

"Stay. Away."

I heard it. The sound of my hair being cut. Long locks of dark blue hair fell to the ground around me. I couldn't even fight her. I hurt too much. I feebly glared at her.

"You know," I whispered, "The only thing that's going to change because of you is the length of my hair."

She blew air from her nose and motioned for her subordinates to follow her. There were four girls left now. The terror stricken girl probably made a run for it. Just before she left the shed, she said something.

"You can blame Satou Hina for this."

Then she left.

* * *

I don't know how I felt, so I laughed. It was a bad habit of mine. Whenever I didn't know how to react to a situation, I would just laugh. My bizarre laughter filled and reverberated through the shed. My own voice sounded strange to me.

I felt the pulsating pain from the kicks and punches landed on me. I felt angry at myself for not being stronger. I felt stupid for thinking that someone actually liked me and then invited me to a shady place. I felt bad for my newly shorn hair. Most of all, I felt alone.

When I was little, I was scared of two things: the dark and being alone. Growing up, I finally got over my fear of both. But I still disliked both. I was less afraid of the dark now and more afraid of being alone. I stopped laughing.

Now, I felt a crushing emptiness from around me. I felt so utterly alone. No one was around the shed. No one was there to see me. No one was there to empathize with me. No one was there to comfort me. No one knew how I felt. How angry I was. How alone I was.

I was too confused to shed tears. Too hurt to stand up and get help. Too angry at myself for letting this happen to me. I just sat there. Propped up against the wall. Staring blankly at the roof of the shed.

I don't know how long I sat there, but it felt like an eternity. Then, I heard the shed door squeak open. I shifted my eyes downwards to see who it was. It was the boy who I had helped during practice the other day. I didn't know his name. He probably didn't even notice me. He walked over to the crate with basketballs in it. I inhaled a deep breath to call him, but instead I choked on my own saliva. I coughed. My stomach hurt so much when I coughed, but I couldn't help it.

He noticed me. He eyes went wide. He dropped the basketball he had just gotten.

How pitiful I must've looked, slumped against the walls with my cut hair in shears around me.

"G-Gunjo-san?" He rushed over to me, "What happened? Are you alright?"

I wanted to punch the kid for a second. Do I look like I'm alright? But I didn't want to see him. I wanted to see… Who did I want to see? Tatsuya? Wei Liu? Kenichi? Kensuke? Atsushi?

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. It hit me that my throat was parched.

"Get…get…" I whispered.

But I had no idea who to ask him to get.

"Hold o-on," he stuttered, "I'll get help."

But I didn't want him to get help. I didn't want anyone to see me like this. Except… Except who?

It wasn't long before the boy had left in a hurry before another shadow darkened the door. The owner of the shadow surprised me. It was Atsushi.

He saw me immediately. He was eating chips and I'm guessing he was so surprised that he couldn't even put the ship that was halfway to his mouth into his mouth.

"Ria-chin?" He asked.

He walked toward me and knelt down. He looked at me and I looked at him.

Finally, I gave a small laugh and said, "Does short hair suit me?"

Then, I cried.

* * *

_To those of you who were suspecting Satou Hina: haha, there you go._  
_But don't worry, there's more to Satou Hina._  
_Any questions or suggestions? Feel free to put it in the reviews._


	12. It's not bad

_Thanks so much guys!_  
_Celebrating 101 followers and 60 favorites_  
_Whoohoo!_

* * *

I don't really remember what happened in order. I remembered I cried my eyes out. I remember leaning into Atsushi's wide chest and wetting his shirt with my tears. I had sort of tackled him after I started crying. Atsushi was sitting, leaning back on his hands, with me between his legs and my head on his chest.

"Why didn't you come earlier?" I sobbed through tears.

"Sorry," he said in his usual voice.

"Idiot. Idiot. Idiot," I feebly pounded my fists against his chest over and over.

"Sorry."

Atsushi seemed like he was at a loss of what to do, so his placed his large hand on my shorn hair and stroked it. I calmed down. I stopped pounding his chest. My breaths were uneven with my hiccups. I inhaled his scent again and closed my eyes. I could feel his hand slowly run through my hair, which calmed me down. My tears wouldn't stop though. There was nothing left to cry about, but the tears kept coming.

"Can you walk?" Atsushi asked.

I nodded. I stood up, but everything hurt. I slumped a little because standing upright hurt too much.

"Are you hurt?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Where?"

I guess he couldn't see the bruises because it was all under my uniform. They hadn't harmed my face or legs that much. Mainly just my torso area. I lifted up the side of my shirt to reveal where I had been kicked. Atsushi looked at it without much expression. I put my shirt back down. I wiped my eyes and nose with my sleeve.

"Do you want me to carry you?" He asked.

I nodded. He showed his back to me, which I suppose meant a piggyback. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he gently took my knees. He took one step. My stomach rubbed against his back, and it hurt. A lot. I had placed my face in between his shoulders and shook my head.

"It hurts."

He put me down gently and thought about how to carry me. He then scooped me up in his arms. I hid my face in his shirt.

"Let's go find Muro-chin," he began walking.

"No," I blurted out. Too much effort. My stomach hurt again.

He stopped and looked at me. I looked back, probably looking terribly pitiful with my snot covered face and puffy eyes.

"Why?" He asked.

"I don't want them to see me like this," I mouthed into his shirt.

For some reason, I cared about how Tatsuya, Kenichi, Kensuke, and Wei Liu thought of me. I guess for Atsushi, I didn't really care what he thought of me because I didn't really like him all that much in the first place. But, I still appreciated that he had the patience to baby me and carry me.

"Then where?" He asked.

"Room," I responded.

"Keys?"

"Bag."

He lowered me a bit and I grabbed my bag which I had dropped near the entrance of the shed.

* * *

Somehow, Atsushi had unlocked my door and placed me on my bed. He turned on the lights and sat on the floor near the side of my bed. We sat in silence. Silence just wasn't awkward between me and Atsushi. I lied on my back, staring at the ceiling.

A couple of minutes passed without any of us saying anything.

"It's not bad," Atsushi said.

He stared at me with his sleepy, purple eyes.

"What's not bad?" I croaked.

"Your hair. Short hair isn't bad."

I turned away from him, "Is that so?"

The mention of my shorn hair made me start tearing up. I started crying again. I tried to hold in my gasping sobs. But it just came out as choked hiccups.

"Why are you crying?" Atsushi asked.

Even after Atsushi found me in the shed, he didn't ask what had happened or anything like that. I don't really know why he wasn't that curious either. Maybe he was just being lazy, or he just didn't care. I guess he had a right to know why I was crying.

"I… don't know," I finally choked out.

I really didn't know. Maybe there were too many mixed emotions inside me.

Atsushi tossed me a box of tissues that was on my desk. I blew my nose, wiped my eyes, and repeated.

"Atsushi?" I asked.

"Hm?" He answered.

I looked at him through watery eyes, "Take me tomorrow to get my hair cut?"

"Sure."

"What day is tomorrow?"

"Saturday."

"Oh."

I could hear the alarm clock on my nightstand tick. Maybe another minute passed. I still lied on my bed. Atsushi still sat on the floor near the side of my bed, with his head rested against his hand, looking at me.

"Atsushi?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"Could you… stay with me?"

"Sure."

He was surprisingly very nice to me.

"You're ok with that?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

Silence again.

"Ria-chin?" Atsushi asked.

"Hm?"

"Why do you want me to stay?"

That was a good question. I thought about it for a moment.

"Because I'm scared."

Atsushi tilted his head, "Of what?"

"Of being alone."

"Oh."

"I'm going to go take a shower," I said slowly getting up.

Getting up required abdomen strength, of which I had none. Add my stomach bruises to that and you have a world of pain. I winced as I got up. I slowly swung my feet to the side of the bed, right in front of Atsushi. I rummaged through my dresser for clothing. I sluggishly walked to the bathroom.

"You'll stay here, right?" I said, before stepping into the bathroom.

"Hm," he said in affirmation.

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I slipped out of my school uniform and took the hair tie off my wrist to tie my hair. But as I reached for my hair, I realized it wasn't there anymore. I gave a small chuckle at myself. This would take some getting used to. I stared at my body in the mirror. Angry purple bruises dotted my midsection and hip area and stared back at me. Then, I looked at my hair for the first time since it was cut. It was disheveled and cut badly. It would grow back soon enough. Right?

I took my time taking a shower and quickly brushed my teeth. When I came out, Atsushi was sitting at my coffee table, eating a bag of chips. Probably took it from my pantry, but I didn't mind. I slung my towel over my wet hair and got a cup of water. After chugging it down, I dragged myself back to the bed. For once, I was happy my room was small, so I didn't have to walk as much.

I lied down on top of my blanket, throwing my towel over to my chair.

"Can I have a towel?" Atsushi asked suddenly.

I couldn't process anything, "Why?"

"To take a shower."

"Why?"

"You wanted me to stay, right?"

"Yes," I couldn't see what he was getting at.

"So, I'm spending the night."

Oh. I just realized the repercussions of having Atsushi stay the night with me. But right now I couldn't care less. I would make an exception.

"It's over there," I pointed to my dresser, "Second drawer."

He walked over to my dresser and bent down.

"Get me a rag and some ice would you?" I breathed.

"What a hassle," he said, but he went to get it anyways.

He handed me a rag with ice in it.

"Thanks," I said.

I lifted up my shirt, revealing my bruised belly. I placed the rag of ice on my largest bruise. I blinked up at the ceiling. I heard the water in my bathroom running. So I waited for him.

* * *

Atsushi came out of the shower, wearing tank top and his uniform pants. His shirt slightly stuck to his slightly wet body. My, did he have a nicely sculpted chest. His hair was dripping wet and he had his towel around his neck. His large hands were rubbing the towel against his hair. Atsushi really was good looking. I didn't really understand why there weren't more girls chasing after him.

"Why are you staring at me?" He asked.

I immediately averted my gaze. I didn't mean to stare. As blunt as I was, I couldn't exactly tell him I was staring at his body.

"Nothing," I finally said.

"Do you have milk?" He said walking toward my mini fridge.

"Yeah."

He took the entire carton out of my fridge and drank directly from it. I guess this was why girls didn't chase him. Lack of manners.

He sat down on the side of my bed, chugging milk. He bounced when he sat down, bouncing me as well. Ouch, my stomach. I grabbed his arm. He turned to look at me. I used his arm to help myself sit up. I held out my hand for the milk. He gave the carton to me. I drank from the carton too. I poured it too fast, so some dripped down my chin. I handed Atsushi the carton. He took it from me. I used the towel around his neck to wipe my mouth. Then, I lied down again, slightly lifting my shirt and placing the rag of ice on my bruised belly.

Atsushi reached out his hand and gently touched a bruise on my side. He was just holding the milk, so his fingers were cold. It sent shivers through my body.

I swatted his hand away, "Your fingers are cold."

He still looked at me with his sleepy eyes. I looked at his purple eyes. He looked back. We made eye contact for a couple of seconds.

"Where am I going to sleep?" He finally asked.

That's a good question.

"Sorry Atsushi. I don't have any extra pillows or blankets," I replied.

"Then is here fine?" He said, referring to the bed.

"Hm," I said in affirmation.

Silence.

"Sorry," I finally breathed out.

"It's fine," he drawled.

He got up without a word and turned off the lights. It was completely dark. My eyes were bad at adjusting in the dark, so I couldn't see anything.

"Could you open the blinds?" I said, sitting up to put my rag of ice on the nightstand.

I heard heavy footsteps and the sound of blinds opening. By now, the moon had risen, so soft strips of light flooded my room. I could finally see the large silhouette of Atsushi.

I squished myself against the wall to make room for him. I felt him sit and then lie down on the bed.

"Ria-chin?" He said.

"Hm?" I said.

"Can I have some blanket?"

I realized I was monopolizing the blanket. I threw one side of the blanket over him.

"Do you want my pillow?" I asked.

Without waiting for an answer, I slid my pillow over to his head. I could barely see him lift up his head and put it on the pillow. I could sleep without a pillow fine anyways.

Silence again. We shifted underneath the blanket. I ended up sleeping, facing Atsushi on my side. He slept on his back. Our fingers were slightly touching underneath the blanket.

"Your hand is cold," he said to the ceiling.

"You're warm," I responded.

I don't really know how it happened. We fell asleep, with our fingers entwined.

* * *

_I glad all of you guys are taking a liking/disliking to Satou Hina._  
_I originally wanted her to be a small side character, but hey, if you guys love/hate her, that's nice too._  
_I'm thinking maybe a spinoff with Satou Hina and Makoto Hanamiya?_  
_Let me know in the reviews!_


	13. Naturally warm

_Thanks for all the support guys._  
_Fast update, here you go!_

* * *

I woke up first. Even though I was a heavy sleeper, I woke up probably due to the sunlight streaming in from the windows. I say sunlight, but it was rather dark outside with the pattering of rain against my window. I slowly got up, but then I realized I couldn't. The first reason was because my stomach and my entire midsection had dull throbbing pain sensation. The second being that someone's arm was slung over my stomach. I fell backwards, which was a bad idea. The back of my head hit the wall with a heavy thud. I lay back in bed in even more pain.

I closed my eyes in pain. When I opened them, I was face to face with Atsushi. I had almost forgotten he was here, save for his arm slung over me. His eyes slowly fluttered open. I had probably woke him up from my head hitting the wall. His purple eyes looked sleepier than usual.

He looked at me and I looked at him. Without a word, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep. I hoisted myself up to look at my alarm clock. There was a puddle of water on it from the melted ice from last night. It was around nine. Too early for a Saturday morning. I went back to sleep, snuggled against Atsushi's chest.

* * *

My eyes flew open. I was late. I was late for class. I quickly sat up and jumped out of bed. At least tried to. I moved my knee to hop out of bed, but instead something was in my way. Rather than jumping out of bed, I kneed Atsushi in the stomach, flipping him off the bed. Unable to control my own momentum, I fell out of the bed, landing face first in Atsushi's chest.

"Oof!"

It was probably the most emotion I had ever heard from Atsushi. Surprise at having the wind knocked out of him as a wakeup call. I had knocked Atsushi awake. All at once, the pain flooded back to me. The pain of jumping out of bed, kneeing Atsushi, and then falling on him, on my stomach, my bruised belly. The pain was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Atsushi landed on his back on the floor. I landed stomach first on Atsushi. It hurt too much to bring up my head to look at him, or even get off him. It was more uncomfortable than anything.

When I finally had the strength to lift up my head, Atsushi opened his eyes and gave me a bleary look. It was a look like he had too many questions to ask, and he didn't know what to start with.

"What are you doing?" He said, sitting up.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Don't sit up too fast," I said.

Since I was on top of him, if he got up too fast, I would hurt.

He got up slowly. He leaned back on his hands, and tilted his head down to look at me. My head was still on his chest, but I was now in a sitting position between his legs. I shifted my head to look at him. He still had that same look on his face.

"What were you doing?" He repeated.

"I dreamt that I was late for class, so I jumped out of bed," I responded.

I rubbed my eyes. They were terribly puffy from crying too much last night.

"Sorry, did you hit your head?" I asked.

He nodded. I stretched out my hand and rubbed the back of his head. His purple eyes looked at me. There was a small bump on the back of his head. That was when it hit me. The position that me and Atsushi were in was a little too much for me to handle. I was sitting between Atsushi's legs, facing him with my face a little too close to Atsushi's.

I stood up as fast as I could, which was pretty slow. I looked at the clock. It was noon now. A little late, but it was ok. I went to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror. I was horrified. My hair was the equivalent of a bird's nest. My eyes looked like I had gouged them out, rolled them in pepper powder, and put them back in. I facepalmed. There was no way I was doing anything like this.

"Ria-chin?" Atsushi asked.

I looked at him.

"Can I have a toothbrush?" He asked.

"Sorry, I don't have an extra toothbrush," I said.

"Then, I'm going to go home," he said.

The words jolted my heart. I stuck my head out of the bathroom at looked at him with wide eyes. I didn't want to be alone. I didn't want him to leave. I wanted him to stay.

His sleepy eyes met mine. I didn't say anything. Neither did he. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Only strained breaths. I blinked rapidly. One thought ran across my mind again and again.

_Don't leave me alone. Don't leave me. _

"I'll stay with you as long as you want."

Relief flooded my chest. My heart slowed down. Holding on the frame of the bathroom, I sunk down. My knees buckled under me and I sat on the floor. I could hear my own loud breathing. I put my hands on the floor to support myself.

"Did you want me to stay?" He asked.

I nodded helplessly. My head hung down. My shoulders drooped. I was in such a pitiful state. Tears were coming to my eyes again. I don't know why. Maybe I was crying for myself. Being unable to do anything but rely on Atsushi.

"Get dressed," he said.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"My house."

* * *

It was drizzling outside. It was cold. Atsushi was still in his school uniform because that was all he had. I wore the hoodie with the gloves attached. I had pulled the hood over my head, not wanting anyone to see my hair.

We stepped out of the dorm and to the entrance. We looked at the rain outside and we didn't say anything. I only had one umbrella. If we shared the umbrella, one of us, most likely me, would get wet. Atsushi going alone was out of the question because I didn't want to be left alone.

"How about you give me a piggyback ride and I hold the umbrella?" I asked.

"Sure," he said kneeling down for me to get on his back.

I didn't have rain boots and neither did Atsushi, but I was assuming that Atsushi didn't mind getting his sneakers wet. We walked to his house with me on his back. His two arms held my legs. I had one arm slung around his neck and the other one held the umbrella.

His back was really wide, so were his shoulders. I rested my head on his shoulder. His hair tickled the side of my face. He had his normal scent, which I loved, mixed with the smell of rain. I didn't like the smell of rain, but mixed with his scent, I didn't mind the rain.

"You're warm," I whispered into his ear.

"Really?" He drawled.

"Hm," I said in affirmation.

The people we passed definitely gave us funny looks. Atsushi looked like a disheveled giant who just rolled out of bed, which was an accurate description of him. Then add an androgynous person on his back with a hood covering his/her face. I caught glimpses of people trying to look underneath the umbrella at the person on this giant's back, but quickly passed by. Maybe I scared them off with my zombie eyes.

We didn't say anything else on the way to his house. I loved the sound of the rain against the umbrella. The steady rhythm of Atsushi's footsteps. The way his scent and the smell of rain filled my nose. The way his hair tickled my face. The way he was always naturally warm.

I almost didn't want to get off his back when he arrived at his house. It was a pretty normal looking house, with a little gate leading to the front yard. He unlocked the door and went inside. I entered his house, but didn't take off my shoes. I stood where the floor was tiled, right before the elevated wooden floor.

I could hear Atsushi's heavy footsteps around his house. I could hear water running. I could also hear other footsteps walking around. I prayed that no one would pass by the front door and see a sketchy, hooded person standing in their house.

No one passed by the front door. Within a few minutes, Atsushi came down the stairs with a gym bag over his shoulder.

"Let's go," he said.

I expected for Atsushi to kneel down and put me on his back, but instead he opened his own umbrella. Of course, I was dumb to think he would give me a piggyback ride if he had his own umbrella.

I stood stupidly in his doorway.

"Atsushi," I said not looking at him, "Can we get my hair cut tomorrow?"

I could feel his eyes on me, but for some reason I didn't want to look at him.

"Sure, what do you want to do then?" He asked.

"Get lunch," I said instinctively.

"Sure."

I backtracked for a second. The reason why I didn't want my hair cut was because I didn't want anyone to see my eyes. If we were going to go get lunch, people would not only see my eyes, but also my hair.

"Actually, can we get my hair cut after all?" I asked.

"Make up your mind, already," Atsushi sighed.

"Sorry, let's go get my hair cut."

* * *

_It looks like most people hate Satou Hina with a passion, so I've stopped toying with the idea of a spinoff._  
_If you have any suggestions or questions, please let me know in the reviews!_


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